

AREVOLUTI 

In * 

egg production 




GEORGE C.NEWELL 




Class ___ 



Book 



Copyright N?._ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSE. 



* 



— MH^— MN^— MK^— MN— 



: A REVOLUTION IN 
EGG PRODUCTION . 

—W— ■■—■■— M—Wh» M l ■ ' ■' ■ W n ■■—«—■ ■ ' W II M l i M i « ■ ■ O ■ | t | 



BEING AN EXPOSITION OF PRACTICAL, 

TESTED AND SUCCESSFUL 
METHODS FOR CONTINUOUS LAYING 



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By GEORGE G. NEWELL 



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Published By 

American Poultry Journal Publishing Company 

542 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, III. 






s* A U 



COPYRIGHT 1916 
BY 

GEORGE G. NEWELL' 
All Rights Reserved 



MAR 21 1916 

©CI.A427336 



Foreword 

It is the author's intention, in this work, not only to sup- 
ply detail knowledge of how to care for poultry, but also to 
offer the reader something on the order of a post-graduate 
study. 

Details will be gone into because they play a part, and 
have a bearing, on the new viewpoints presented. 

"Coming events cast their shadows before them," and the 
observant poultryman can often visualize conditions in such 
a manner as to sense the necessity of changing diet, or sur- 
roundings, before the cause of such a necessity has worked 
to his detriment. 

Heredity and environment are two big factors in tgg pro- 
duction ; but environment has, in the author's opinion, fully 
as much influence on production as heredity. 

A third factor exists, which heretofore has not been recog- 
nized as essential, which is under our control, this factor be- 
ing the length of the hen's business day. 

The wild jungle fowl, through changed conditions, and 
the accumulation of the results of these conditions as trans- 
mitted by heredity, has been bred and fed to lay a greatly 
increased average number of eggs annually ; and in the same 
manner, and for the same reasons, we can, by providing still 
better environments, further materially increase production — 
thereby adding to the pleasure and profit of poultry keeping 
as a business proposition. 

THE AUTHOR. 



PART I 

An Outline of Present Conditions 



CHAPTER I— FEEDING AND CARE 

Page 

Care and Feed in General 9 

Balancing the Ration 10 

Conditions Should be Watched and Noted 12 

What to Feed 13 

Under Feeding 15 

Over Feeding 16 

CHAPTER II— HOUSING AND APPLIANCES 

Automatic Feeders 19 

Fussing Vs. Economy of Time 20 

Water Problems 20 

Housing, Ventilation and Light 23 

Trap Nesting 28 

Incubators or Hens for Hatching 30 

CHAPTER III— BROODING, BREEDING AND YARDING 

Brooding Problems 35 

What Breed? 43 

Meat Production a By-Product 44 

Yards and Exercise 46 

CHAPTER IV— PRODUCTION AND CARE OF EGGS 

Spring and Summer Eggs 49 

Fall and Winter Eggs 50 

Care of Eggs 52 

"Ask the Birds, Their Judgment is Good" 54 

Production Under Present Methods 55 

Production Records for 1913 61 



PART II 

The Revolution and Its Results 



CHAPTER V— BASIC THEORIES 

"Whys" and "Wherefores" 67 

Limited Fuel Boxes 68 

Value of Light 70 

A Hen's Business Day 71 

CHAPTER VI— REMARKABLE RESULTS 

The Problem Solved 73 

Production Records for 1914-1915 77 

Longer Days Effects on Health and Vigor 88 

CHAPTER VII 
PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF PROVEN THEORIES 

Production Possibilities 93 

Averages and Percentages 98 

Press Comments on the Experiment 101 

Corroborations of Long Business Day Benefits 106 

CHAPTER VIII— CONCLUSIONS 

Trying it on the Ducks. 109 

Heredity and Performance 109 

Egg Producing as a Business Proposition 110 

Capital and Equipment for Large Flocks Ill 



PART I. 

An Outline of Present Conditions 



CHAPTER I 

Feeding and Care 

Care and Feed in General 

One of the greatest requisites for success in caring for 
poultry, and obtaining satisfactory results, is regularity. 

Nothing we can do upsets a laying hen's domestic econ- 
omy so much as to be left without an expected meal, or to be 
left without water. 

Attendance must be constant. Some flocks are kept in 
an alternate condition of feast or famine, and the owner has 
no right, or reason, to expect good returns from such treat- 
ment. 

We can all see and observe how wild birds are scared 
away and made to desert their nests, if they are in any way 
disturbed, even if this disturbance happens when the birds 
are entirely out of sight. 

Domestic fowls in the same manner, only possibly modified 
in degree, have a knowledge and sense of whether conditions 
surrounding them are such as to be conducive to safety in 
laying. 

The effect of this trait is easily observed, and any doubter 
can satisfy himself of its truth, when sudden changes are 
made in quarters of laying hens, even if the changes are made 
for the better. 

The hens or pullets, for the time being, are disturbed by 
the change in appearance of their surroundings, and laying 
stops in a greater or less degree, according to the mental atti- 
tude of the birds toward these changes. 

In the same manner, laying is affected by the birds' sense 
of security and quiet. If they are continually frightened, or 



10 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

disturbed, they will not lay as well as if they feel contented 
and satisfied. In some subtle or mysterious manner, it will 
be found that poultry can mentally size up, and figure out, 
their surroundings to the profit or loss of their owners. 

Some poultrymen, by their manner or methods, are never 
able to give their birds a satisfied and "comfy" feeling, while 
others, with apparently less effort, are quite at home among 
their birds, and the birds are quite at home with them. 

Balancing the Ration 

To the poultryman keeping only a few birds, it is some- 
times quite a problem to secure a variety of separate grains 
to fit the needs of his flocks. "Variety is the spice of life" and 
laying hens take no exception to the proof of this saying. 

The poultry business has made such strides in the past 
few years, that there are several brands of poultry feeds put 
up in whole and ground grains in all parts of the country. 
These mixtures are mainly scientifically mixed in proper pro- 
portions for a theoretically balanced ration ; and they cost no 
more, if as much, as the same ingredients can be secured for, 
separately, by anyone desiring to mix them himself. 

It is an open question, in the present condition of feed 
supplies, whether even the larger poultrymen cannot save 
time and money by purchasing their feeds already mixed, for 
the bulk of their feeding. 

Whether mixed feeds or separate grains or meals are 
purchased, the fowls themselves will balance their own rations, 
to a great extent, if given an opportunity to do so. 

They will do this by choosing the grains they require out 
of the mixed grains, and leaving the others untouched, even 
to the extent of going hungry sometimes, rather than eat 
such grains as they do not require or fancy. 

If grains are fed separately, we therefore may often be 
forcing the fowls to either eat what they do not desire or 
require, or go hungry; and we may, so to speak, be forcing 
our judgment of what is a balanced ration upon the birds. 

No one variety of grain contains the necessary food ele- 
ments in the right proportions for our purpose. If poultry 
arc forced to sustain themselves on a restricted diet, they 
will have to pass through their systems much useless material 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 11 

(measured by their needs) in an attempt to obtain sufficient 
of the necessary elements which they require ; for instance, 
hens fed principally on corn will put on fat to such an extent 
as to be unable to produce eggs. The same, or less, expendi- 
ture for a more balanced ration would produce profitable 
results. 

Our judgment in such matters is not at all comparable 
to that of the birds, "Ask the birds, their judgment is good." 

Another error we are likely to fall into is that a balanced 
ration for today and today's conditions, will be a balanced 
ration for next week and next week's conditions ; when, as a 
matter of fact, the requirements may be entirely different. 

Still another argument in favor of mixed grain of the 
desirable kinds, is that the requirements of trie individual 
birds in the same flock may vary every day. A hen who has 
been broody for some time, and has been neglecting her feed- 
ing in consequence, will require more fattening foods than 
a hen in laying condition ; and if these fattening foods are 
not available, such a hen will remain out of laying condition 
indefinitely. 

For the reasons touched upon in the foregoing, let me 
here suggest an efficiency method for determining a balanced 
ration for those making a business of keeping poultry, even 
if mixed grains are purchased. The method is this : Choose 
a time when the fowls are fairly hungry, say in early morn- 
ing, and place in separate troughs a definite quantity of sep- 
arate grains. Suppose we use two pounds of Kaffir corn, two 
pounds of wheat, two pounds of cracked corn, two pounds of 
oats, and two pounds of sunflower seed, etc. After these 
grains have been before the hens some time, we will find that 
some varieties have entirely disappeared, while some have 
scarcely been touched, and others have been cleaned up in 
varying extent. 

The hens will thus tell us what they would like added 
to their rations, and we can either feed such grains as separate 
extra feeds, mix more of such grains in with our mixed feed, 
or, if we use hoppers, we can increase the quantity of such 
grains in the hoppers. 

We can make this test as often as we think necessary, 



12 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

say once a week, once semi-monthly, or once a month ; and we 
will thus be in a position to meet the requirements of a ration 
balanced by the hens themselves. "Ask the birds, their judg- 
ment is good." 

Conditions Should Be Watched and Noted 

To be a successful poultryman, there are no qualities 
more necessary or valuable than the power of observation, 
and decision for quick action in correcting conditions when 
anything wrong is observed. 

After disease takes a thorough hold on a fowl, to such 
an extent as to sap its vitality, the ax is about the best remedy 
one can use, generally speaking; but, if conditions were noted 
earlier, the fowl could have been saved and brought into good 
condition quickly. 

Sick fowls should be separated from the well ones at 
once — if for no other reason than that they should not use 
the same drinking fountains, and thus contaminate the water. 

The droppings are a valuable indication of trouble. If 
they are without form, or greenish, they suggest at once 
something wrong in the feeding, or the necessity of charcoal 
or grit. If the droppings are of a consistency to hold their 
shape without being too solid, it is a good indication. 

For excessive looseness of the bowels the old fashioned 
Douglas Mixture is a quick remedy, and seems to act as a 
tonic. This mixture is greatly in favor among English poul- 
trymen. The formula for Douglas Mixture is eight ounces 
of Sulphate of Iron (commonly called copperas or green vit- 
rol), and one ounce of Sulphuric Acid, dissolved in two gal- 
lons of water. 

This mixture should be kept in glass or stoneware, and 
should never be placed in metal receptacles either in the stock 
solution, or when placed before the flock. A teaspoonful to 
about a quart of drinking water will act as a tonic, and may 
be given to fowls which are well and to the sick birds. 

The regular drinking supply may be taken away tem- 
porarily, and the earthenware vessels substituted containing 
the diluted Douglas Mixture. 

Looseness of the bowels is not always "cholera," but may 
be caused by faulty diet. The writer some years ago had a 






A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 13 

flock of young Plymouth Rocks, three months old, which, 
unaccountably and all at once, developed great looseness of 
the bowels. Two birds were found dead, and some others in 
bad shape. The flock had apparently enjoyed good health, 
and even as bad as they then looked, did not have a diseased 
appearance. Thinking back in an attempt to discover the 
cause of the trouble, he remembered they had drank great 
quantities of water the day before ; and he then remembered 
that the family had partaken of salted herrings, and, on inquir- 
ing, found that the bones and other parts of the herrings, 
which were left over, had been thrown out to the fowls ; hence, 
exceeding thirst, inordinate drinking of water, and the fatal 
looseness of the bowels. A hurried trip to the drug store for 
material, and Douglas Mixture made and given to the fowls, 
saved every one of the balance of the flock. Two days after- 
ward not a sign of the trouble was to be seen. Without quick 
action every bird would have been lost. 

Simple colds may be caused by openings creating a draft, 
and these openings should be attended to at once. Neglected 
colds and contamination of the water soon lead to roup, and 
demoralization of the flock. 

If eggs are laid with soft shells, or a tendency develops 
for egg eating, look to the supply of oyster shells in the 
hoppers. 

The quality and quantity of green feed has a big influence 
on digestion, and its derangement. Cabbage is a good winter 
feed, but if overfed to fowls is likely to scour them. 

What to Feed 

For the small poultryman it is sometimes quite a problem 
to decide what to feed. The grains or meals available in the 
local market may be very restricted, and if he confines him- 
self to such a market, it may seriously afreet his returns, 
because of the poor or unbalanced rations fed. 

Commercial poultry food can, however, be secured now 
in all parts of the country; and, in the writer's opinion, should 
be used — especially by the small producer, who either cannot 
secure the necessary ingredients to do his own mixing, or has 
not the knowledge to decide what is needed in the ration. 



14 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

Broadly speaking what are necessary to feed are the 
following: 

A variety of grains for the fowls to choose 
from. 

A good dry mash, consisting of clover or 
alfalfa meal, bran or middlings, beef or fish scrap 
(or both) ground oats, cornmeal, linseed meal, 
etc. 

Good sharp grit. 

Oyster shells to supply lime. 

Charcoal, 

Beef scraps. 

Green feed of some kind. 

Water. 

Buckwheat and sunflower seeds will be valuable to have 
on hand, as extra feeds, and will be relished by the fowls, 
especially in winter. They seem to enjoy these feeds in 
greater quantities than they are generally found, in the com- 
mercial mixed grains. 

Feeding must be governed more or less by the breed 
handled. The active breeds, such as Leghorns, can use a 
greater proportion of fattening foods than the heavier breeds, 
without getting out of condition. 

Green feed and its furnishing is one of the greatest prob- 
lems, especially to the city dweller or suburbanite. 

One has no right to trouble one's neighbors by allowing 
their poultry to run loose over their lawns or gardens. Mis- 
chief done in this manner by the fowls can not be made good ; 
and such results are not conducive to neighborly good feeling. 

If attention is paid to this matter, however, fowls can be 
confined in small yards the whole year, without bothering the 
neighbors and without suffering from lack of green foods. 

Cabbage, yellow turnips, rutabagas, or beets, etc., can be pur- 
chased anywhere, and these are relished by the fowls. In a 
large plant, it will pay to grind up such vegetables as beets 
and turnips and feed them in the mash. 

Sprouted oats is king of green foods for poultry, and noth- 
ing is so much relished by them. Good oat sprouters can be 
made or purchased. Oats can be sprouted in every season of 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 15 

the year. In the winter, however, heat must be supplied 
when the temperature gets too low, as the oats will be spoiled 
and the sprouts will not grow if the oats get chilled. 

In very warm weather the oats are likely to mold and 
thus become unfit for feeding, besides stopping the sprouting. 

Chemicals are advocated to stop this molding; but per- 
sonally the author has not felt like using the chemicals advo- 
cated to feed to his flock. He has found, however, that a little 
air slacked lime put in the water, when sprinkling the oats, 
puts a stop to the mold, and is not a bad thing for the flock. 

The grit used must be sharp and hard, as this material is 
what furnishes the birds with a substitute for teeth, to grind 
their food. The food, when it reaches the gizzard, is separated 
and prevented from getting into a mass, and is ground up 
between the hard particles of grit. 

It is hard to realize what powerful action the gizzard is 
capable of. In the year 1899 the writer was talking to a 
butcher about a lot of fowls which had been confined for some 
days, and seemed to be off their feed. The butcher was told 
they needed grit to sharpen their appetites, but there was no 
grit at hand. The writer suggested that some glass be 
pounded up for them, to which suggestion the objection was 
offered that it would certainly kill the fowls. The glass was 
fed to them, however, and their appetites at once improved. 
The butcher had expected to surely lose some birds. 

AYhen the hens were dressed, he said, "Now I am going 
to see what happened to that glass," and when the gizzards 
were opened he was surprised to find nothing but round and 
smooth crystals, in place of the sharp pointed particles of 
glass which had been fed to the hens. 

Under Feeding 

It takes feed and plenty of it to get eggs. The reason 
most people get poor, and unsatisfactory, Qgg yields is that 
they either do not realize how much feed is necessary, or wil- 
fully try to economize by not giving the fowls more feed. 
This is false economy, as keeping unproductive fowls is an 
expensive proposition. 

Of course, the keeping of a few fowls fed on table scraps 
is not felt as an expense. On the other hand, if thev do not 



16 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

produce, the available profit from correct feeding is lost — 
even if the owner does not realize his loss. 

Some, to be sure, may keep a flock of hens for the pleas- 
ure of having them around, and for their beauty. The beauty 
is not spoiled, and the pleasure is not detracted from, but 
rather enhanced in degree, if they furnish a plentiful supply 
of eggs for the table — to say nothing of the difference in 
quality between such eggs, and the eggs which can be pur- 
chased at the stores. 

Where large flocks are kept, the feeding expense is a 
heavy item, and if the fowls do not produce satisfactorily they 
will soon make a heavy drain on the bank account, instead of 
adding to it. 

It has been said that "Man never is, but always to be 
blest/' and many flocks of hens, if they could voice their 
feelings, would echo the same sentiment by saying, "That 
they cannot lay, or are always on the point of laying; but fall 
short because the necessary feed is withheld from them — 
they are always on the point of laying but don't lay." A 
balanced ration, and plenty of it, would soon make such flocks 
produce; "Ask the birds, their judgment is good." 

Over Feeding. 

If a flock of fowls has been reared under generous feeding 
conditions, there is not much danger from over feeding if the 
rations are balanced fairly well. Of course, a flock fed on 
nothing but corn, or other fattening food, would soon get 
over fat — but still not produce eggs; because some materials 
necessary to make eggs are always conspicuous by their 
absence, and the fowls in an endeavor to obtain sufficient of 
these necessary elements, which are present in some propor- 
tion in all grains, over eat of other elements and lay on fat. 

With the heavy breeds, it is probably necessary to be 
more particular as to the amount of exercise forced on the 
fowls, than with the lighter breeds, such as the Leghorns. 

Observation, however, will show that a hen has to be in 
fairly good condition for continuous laying. The author has 
used White Wyandottes for the table, which before being 
dressed were laying, and from which as much as one pound of 
clear fat was taken before cooking. 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



17 



An over fat hen will be far more likely to lay than an 
under fed hen. With the lighter breeds, Leghorns for in- 
stance, if the birds are fed regularly, without spasmodic 
periods of scarcity, there is little or no danger of over feeding 
on a good balanced ration. 

We have kept Leghorns in flocks for five years, which 
never knew a time when there was not feed and water avail- 
able, at any hour or minute of their business day, if they 
wanted it — and they laid some, and are still at it. For quan- 
tity of feed, "Ask the birds, their judgment is good." 




The Hens Enjoying a Night Mash 




"Nail Keg" Automatic Feeder 
Home Made, and Works Satisfactorily 



CHAPTER II 

Housing and Appliances 

Automatic Feeders 

For regular and scientific feeding commend me to the 
automatic feeders. We read so much in the press and poultry 
journals of directions of how and when to feed, and the 
quantity to feed for so many birds in a flock, that the author 
is not loath to take exception to these notions as being 
entirely wrong, and will give his reasons for so doing. 

These reasons will apply equally as well to the small 
poultryman, keeping a few hens as a side issue, as to the large 
poultryman who depends on the business for his li\^elihood. 
In the first place, we cannot put ourselves in the place of the 
hens, and judge how much feed they need. If we attempt 
to do so, we, in effect, say to a certain individual hen that 
she needs, say two ounces of grain, at a certain feed ; when, 
if she could speak, she would probably tell us, that on that 
particular day she needed another half an ounce, without which 
she could not lay an egg next day. For quantity of feed, "Ask 
the birds, their judgment is good." 

As stated before, regularity in feeding is essentially nec- 
essary for success, and with this measured hand feeding a 
poultryman or his family is tied down to the fowls, or fowls 
suffer as a consequence at times, when they miss a meal ; the 
small poultryman is away from home, the good wife out 
shopping, train or street car is delayed, dusk arrives and the 
fowls go supperless to roost. This results in a sudden and 
protracted break in egg yield. 

The same way with the larger poultryman — he cannot be 
away on business, and fail to reach home without serious 
consequences. 

With automatic feeders, conditions are entirely different. 
The fowls have plenty to eat as long as daylight lasts, if only 
their caretakers have filled their feeders before leaving home. 
Feeders furnish exercise as well as feed, and the amount of 
exercise can be regulated by adjustments on most of the 

19 



20 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

feeders offered for sale. The exercise can also be regulated 
by the quantity of litter, and occasional, or early morning 
feeds scattered in the litter. 

Fowls have got to feel that feed is plentiful and always 
available, if we wish to obtain a full measure of results. 
Fowls think, and it will pay to keep them thinking contentedly 
all the time. If you have any doubts about these matters, 
"Ask the birds, their judgment is good." 

Fussing vs. Economy of Time. 

As a broad proposition it may be stated, without fear of 
contradiction, that the fowls will do as well and will not care 
a whit, if conditions are right, whether these conditions are 
brought about with little or much work on the part of the 
attendant. It will not make any difference, to the egg yield, 
whether the attendant spends all day furnishing these condi- 
tions to a flock of hens, or whether he furnishes the conditions 
in an hour's time ; but it will make a vast difference to the 
attendant in his economy of labor. 

"Time is money," and if time is not wasted in fussing it 
can be utilized in other affairs, or in increasing the capacity 
of the plant — if all one's time is put in on the plant. 

Every device or appliance, therefore, which tends to 
economize time, shorten or lessen steps, or helps to prevent 
any leaks should be made use of. Nowadays Efficiency is the 
Watchword in any line of business, and there is no reason 
whatsoever for making the poultry business an exception. 

Right tools with which to work cannot be considered as 
an avoidable expense, but should be considered as indispensi- 
ble assets in conducting successful operations. 

Water Problems 

• The death knell of many an otherwise promising poultry 
business, is seen in the way water is dished out to the fowls. 
Sometimes water is carried to the flock in shallow dishes 
or trays, and the fowls walk all over the dishes, foul the 
water, and make it unfit to drink in a few minutes. Probably, 
also, the dish is upset in short order; and then there is no 
water where the water ought to be, and the fowls are soon 
thirsty. 



'A Revolution in Egg 
Production" 

Points the practical 
ways to increased 
egg yields in all 
seasons. 
Yours very truly, 

Geo. G. Newell 




Water — the Cheapest and Also the Most Neglected Necessity 



22 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



Water in pails or deep vessels is some improvement, but 
this also soon gets foul, and the fowls become thirsty, for the 
reason that, when used for a little time, the water gets down 
so low in the pail, or other vessel, that they cannot reach it. 

These open vessels are also quickly frozen over in cold 
weather, thus cutting off the supply. 

Automatic drinking fountains, especially those con- 
structed in recent years, so as to prevent damage to the foun- 
tain from freezing, are a great convenience. 

The handiest of these are filled like an ordinary pail, and 
then turned over on their sides. 









—•>* 








4 


i 


Jk 




A Handy Automatic Water Fountain 

The poultryman, with such fountains in use, can fill them 
up once a day and be certain that his fowls are not thirsty at 
any time. In well constructed houses, water will not freeze 
in such fountains at an outside temperature of zero or a little 
below. In extreme temperatures a pail of hot water can be 
taken, to the poultry house, during the day, the fountain set 
upright and the hot water poured in, and the fountain again 
turned on its side. 

One of the biggest "chores" in the poultry business is 
the furnishing of water, and every convenience should be 
made use of to lessen this work. The water also will be found 
to be a prolific cause of the spread of some of the most dan- 
gerous diseases of poultry. 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 23 

For this reason, all fowls suffering with colds, roup, etc., 
should be immediately separated to prevent contagion or 
infection from spreading to the balance of the flock. 

Permanganate of Potash is highly recommended for put- 
ting in the water, to assist in the cure and prevent the spread 
of colds, roup, etc. Sufficient Permanganate of Potash may 
be dissolved to turn the water to a decided wine color. In 
case of roup or kindred diseases, the head and eyes can be 
swabbed with a solution of Permanganate of Potash with 
good results. About as much as will stay on a dime will be 
enough for three gallons of drinking water ; and the same 
quantity in a quart of w r ater will be about right for a washing 
bath. 

The poultryman handling large flocks would be short 
sighted if he did not, by some means, either by pumping 
under pressure, or by using a natural fall, provide a con- 
tinuous supply of fresh water, thus promoting the health of 
his flocks, reducing the labor item in one of its most arduous 
tasks, and insuring against infection through the water sup- 
ply, if disease should gain a foothold in his flocks. 

Housing, Ventilation and Light. 

The much discussed question of open-front vs. closed 
houses is still an open one. Like most issues of this kind, 
common sense and the real merit of the question lie in middle 
ground. 

All are agreed that the housing should be tight on all 
sides except one, and that the ventilation, anyway in winter, 
should be from one side only to prevent drafts. 

Provision should be made, however, to insure plenty of 
circulation of air in the extreme temperatures of summer, 
otherwise the fowls will suffer greatly. 

The writer has in mind at this writing, a poultry house 
in Michigan one hundred feet long and fourteen feet wide, 
which he saw in the summer of 1912. He visited the owner 
of this house, and the birds looked beautiful and white, and 
seemed to be in good condition ; but they suffered and panted 
with the heat, and all had their wings spread out. The birds 
had been kept indoors because he thought it was cooler 
indoors than out, because of the reflection of the sun on the 
sandy soil. The air was stifling in the house, as it had a 



24 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



southern exposure and the glaring sun on the front made 
the air on the inside an extreme temperature, from which 
there was no escape. He suggested to the owner that a hole 
be cut through the rear wall, and that the boards be cut in 
such a manner that they could be battened together to form 
a door, to close the opening at will. 

The effect when the first piece of board was taken out 
was instantaneous, and the relief was sensed by the birds at 
once; they all got in line of the breeze to enjoy it. "Ask the 
birds, their judgment is good." 




Double Pitch Monitor Roof Poultry House 
Showing Slatted Ventilators and Windows in Monitor Roof 

The extreme temperature had already resulted in the 
death of a half dozen birds. We found one hen which seemed 
about to expire, took her outside, laid her on the grass, and, 
after pouring cold water over a shaded spot laid her there to 
cool off. She revived and next day had fully recovered. 

The same openings in winter time would be fatal to the 
health of the flock. Good judgment must be used in these 
matters. An opening in the roof even, may be a good thing 
in the summer time, if it is made in such a manner as to be 
protected by a slatted ventilator, to prevent rain and wind 
from beating in. Such a ventilator takes the heated air right 
out of the house. 

The house needs plenty of light and sunshine in addition 
to ventilation. It needs the light at all seasons, and the ven- 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 25 

tilation in varying degree according' to the seasons, and the 
temperatures of the seasons. 

Muslin covered openings are recommended for the double 
purpose of light and ventilation. However, they are not an 
unmixed good and are not as effective for these purposes as 
they are recommended to be. They soon get dusty, so that 
they do not ventilate freely, and in the course of a season get 
so dirty that they shut off very much light. The latter objec- 
tion is not so great in the long days of summer as in the 
short days of winter. 

Openings or windows protected by hinged slatted doors, 
to keep out the weather and prevent direct air currents, are 
much more effective for ventilation, and can be fastened back 
and the windows closed, when not needed as ventilators. 

In the summer, if the house gets overheated because of 
the glare of the sun on a large amount of glass, some of the 
glass can be washed over with a solution of Whiting and 
water, and this will protect from the sun's glare without 
excluding much light. 

As to the open front, this is a good summer proposition, 
if the top of the front opening is below the level of the roosts, 
and some distance away. If the opening is above the level 
of the roosts, especially in narrow houses, so that the wind can 
blow in directly, look out for trouble in fall and spring. 

In winter, an open front may prove a delusion and a 
snare, in extreme temperatures. This danger can be lessened 
by covering these openings with muslin ; but the covering of 
these openings will also shut out a great amount of needed 
light and sunshine. 

A closed house is also a source of danger, as fowls need 
plenty of fresh air. There should always be an opening, such 
as a window part way open, even in the severest weather. 
When the outside temperature gets down to zero or below\ 
more ventilation will be secured, and the air will circulate 
more freely, through a window open three or four inches, 
than with all the windows on one side open to their full 
capacity in the summer time. 

If you have an open front, and find the birds, on cold 
days, huddled up to keep warm at the side farthest from your 
open fro it, close the openings to a point dictated by observa- 



26 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



tion and judgment, and note the effect on your flock. "Ask 
the birds, their judgment is good." 

A house which is deep from the roost to the front will 
allow for a greater amount of ventilation, with less danger, 
than a narrow house. 

A very deep house, with a roof of one pitch, will make 
it necessary to have the front of the house high to admit the 




Hen House— Remodeled 1915 

sunshine into the back of the house, for sanitation and com- 
fort. When we get a house built too high it will prove cold 
in winter, and will also be a waste of building material which 
is used up in enclosing a great amount of dead space which 
is never used. 

We get the same effect of sunshine, without the defects 
just mentioned, by a break in the pitch of the roof, and making 
it double pitch with a monitor top. 

If we leave the greater span at the back, or roosting side, 
of the house, we can place windows in the drop or monitor 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 27 

side of the roof. Through these windows the sunshine will 
be admitted to the back part of a very wide house. These 
windows can be covered with muslin for summer use, or can 
be left open entirely in very warm weather. Windows placed 
in the low front will admit air and sunshine into the front 
side of the house. 

With a little common sense, we will thus have under our 
control opportunities for plenty of ventilation without drafts, 
winter or summer. 

Dust boxes should be provided in sunny spots, and dust- 
ing material should always be kept in good supply in these 
boxes. 

Sifted coal ashes make good dusting material. Wood 
ashes are not suitable, because of the lye content. Road dust, 
or good dry earth is good dusting material. Sand may not 
prove entirely satisfactory for this purpose, because of its 
being too gritty. Some poultrymen depend on the condition 
of the floor to furnish dusting material. It is safer, however, 
to provide separate boxes for this purpose. 

The floor and litter should always be dry. At times it is 
easier to say this than to secure the condition. In a small 
house, especially, the dampness gets in during the winter, 
by means of snow on the feet, and by the moisture of the 
atmosphere condensing in varying degrees on the walls, ceil- 
ing or roof. This condensed moisture, when it melts, drops on 
the floor and dampens the litter. This condensing can be 
governed to a great extent by ventilation, but cannot be elim- 
inated altogether in extreme temperatures, without providing 
more ventilation than is good for the fowls. 

The roost poles should be sprayed or washed with kero- 
sene, or a mixture of kerosene and disinfectant, every few r 
weeks to destroy mites and other vermin. 

Theoretically, the house should also be whitewashed 
every year or two. Whitewashing has two points in its favor ; 
first the sanitary or purifying efTect of the whitewash on the 
walls, and second, the efTect on light conditions, as the white 
walls will reflect a great amount of light. 

Whitewashing a poultry house with a brush will not 
prove a very pleasant task, however, and if the roost poles 
are kerosened, and a dust bath is always kept available, a 
less frequent application of whitewash will prove practical 



28 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



from a sanitary standpoint. A good sprayer makes easy work 
of whitewashing, and will be as valuable to use in a poultry 
house for the benefit of the light effect, as for sanitation. 

The roost platform should be cleaned off frequently — 
daily would be good practice. If thoroughly done once a 




View Showing the Two Houses Used in These Experiments 

week, however, and ashes or dust are strewn over the plat- 
forms, with an occasional dusting with air slacked lime, the 
houses will be kept in a fair and practically sanitary condition. 
. The litter should also be cleaned out and renewed at 
intervals. 

Nesting material should be cleaned out of the nests at 
intervals, and a sprinkling of lice powder in the nests, when 
putting in new material, will help keep the fowls comfortable. 

Trap Nesting 

Trap nests have their uses, and are a great convenience 
u>v certain purposes. There are several very clever trap nest 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 29 

devices on the market. If eggs are desired from certain indi- 
vidual members of the flock only, the only sure method of 
getting such eggs is by using trap nests, set to lock the individ- 
ual layer up until released. The eggs can then be marked to 
identify them. 

For the fancier, or anyone desiring special breedings from 
individual hen's eggs, trap nests are indispensible. 

For commercial egg production, some features of trap 
nesting are a positive detriment. If trap nests are so made 
that, after laying, the hens can enter another pen where feed, 
water, etc., are in constant supply, the same as in the pen 
where they were before laying, there will be no objection to 
the use of trap nests when egg production is the object. The 
birds under such conditions can be so marked as to be easily 
identified ; or may be transferred and identified after going 
to roost. The eggs can be counted to see if the number cor- 
responds to the number of hens, as a check on the correctness 
of results. Some hens may go on the nests and pass through 
without laying; therefore this method will not always be posi- 
tive for exact results. This method will also add some to the 
expense, in time, if time is valued on a monetary basis. 

If regular trap nesting is used, when good egg production 
is the object, that is, if the hens are locked up until released 
by the attendant, one of two things must happen : First, 
either the attendant must practically live with the flock, so as 
to be in a position to release the hens soon after laying ; or, 
second, the capacity of each hen for producing eggs will be 
cut down in proportion to the length of time that the hens 
are shut up after laying — thus cutting down their produc- 
tive powers to that extent, or in other words shortening their 
business day. 

Fowls under such conditions cannot do. their best, espe- 
cially in winter, where every minute of light counts for much. 
Of course, by the use of trap nests the owner will have the 
satisfaction of knowing how many eggs each hen lays, and 
which hens prove the best layers (for the number of hours 
they have had available for manufacturing those eggs). He 
will also know, if he stops to think, that his "egg machines" 
can do better, and each and every one of them probably will 
la}- more eggs without the use of trap nests than with them. 



30 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



unless the attendant is constantly on the job to release the 
hens. "Ask the birds, their judgment is good/' 

Incubators or Hens for Hatching? 

Whether it will be better to use incubators, or hens, for 
hatching will depend on circumstances. For the poultryman 
with only one or two dozen hens, who does not intend to 




Pullet House 

increase his flock because of space limitations, or other rea- 
sons, the hen will probably always be the only practical means 
of incubation. 

For those desiring to increase their flock, or those who 
already have fair sized flocks, this question will require care- 
ful study. 

Incubation, in many cases, will be more succesful with 
hens than with incubators, depending on the make of incuba- 
tor, the capacity of the operator for handling the incubator, 
and the way in which the hens are cared for, etc. This is, of 
course, presupposing the same hatchability of the eggs used 
in each case. 

An operator, however, can care for an incubator which 
will hatch as many chicks as thirty hens with about as little 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 31 

effort as caring-for one hen; and after hatching there can be 
no comparison between the work and trouble of caring for 
the chicks as one lot, and the care and trouble of looking after 
thirty broods with hens. 

The work with hens can be lessened some by doubling 
up the broods after hatching, or the brooding may all be done 
by artificial means. Practice will prove that incubator hatched 
chicks will do better under conditions of artificial brooding 
than hen hatched chicks. One of the chief reasons for this 
will be found in the fact that a great percentage, of hen 
hatched chicks, will be troubled with a legacy of lice, from 
which pests incubator hatches are free. 

The troubles of caring for broods of chicks under hens 
will be many, and the more hens the more troubles — in pro- 
portion to the number of hens. 

Under artificial brooding, all the chicks can be kept safe 
from weather, vermin, etc., and they will rapidly learn to take 
care of themselves. Under hens they depend on the hen, and 
at a critical time, when the owner is counting all dangers as 
practically passed, the hens may leave the chicks to shift for 
themselves. Hens when left to their own devices, are about 
the poorest brooding contrivances imaginable. They travel far 
with the chicks, tire them out, trample on them, smother them, 
pick at them, and manage to take them through wet grass and 
leave some of them there to die. Of course, there are excep- 
tions, as some hens will prove very good mothers to the chicks, 
but the exceptions will prove the rule. 

The author had an experience with hens with about fifty 
chicks, some years ago. The chicks were about four weeks 
old and were left to shift for themselves during a heavy thun- 
derstorm. The chicks were picked up drowned, half drowned, 
and chilled, and were scattered all over the place. 

Each make of incubator will have instructions from the 
manufacturer as to how it should be run. Some machines are 
heated by the circulation of hot water, and others by the circu- 
lation of hot air. The heating may be done by means of oil, 
gas, coal, or electricity. 

In trimming lamps, the wick should be rubbed off or be 
trimmed carefully, and in such a manner that no sharp points 
are left, especially at the corners of flat wicks. The corners 
should be slightly rounded. With round wicks they should 



32 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

be rubbed off or trimmed so that no sharp points of flame will 
appear. It is these sharp points of flame that start the lamps 
to smoking, and cause danger from overheated lamp founts. 

If possible, incubators should be run, for best results, in 
a basement or some such place where the temperature remains 
fairly uniform. They can, however, be run successfully in a 
dwelling, but need far more attention under such circum- 
stances. 

The author ran successfully a home made hot water 
machine, of his own construction, in the year 1892 in a one 
story building with a flat tin roof. The temperature of the 
room often went to over one hundred degrees in the middle 
of the day, and down to nearly freezing at night. At that time 
incubators were not perfected as they are now, and such as 
they were, they were expensive luxuries. Several hatches were 
made in this home made machine for about seven years, but it 
took constant watching to maintain right temperatures, as it 
had no regulator, and all the regulating had to be done by 
guessing at the necessary amount of lamp flame to keep about 
ten gallons of water at a nearly uniform temperature. The 
lamp flame was turned up slightly to overcome night tempera- 
tures, and turned down in the day time — sometimes turning 
out the lamp altogether for two or three hours on warm days. 

The ideal temperature for the first week is about 102 y 2 ° 
or 103°, for the second weekl03° to 103y 2 °. After ten or 
eleven days the life in the eggs begins to generate bodily heat, 
and the incubator temperatures may suddenly get too high, 
unless allowances are made for the generating of this bodily 
heat in the adjustment of lamps and regulators, or both. 
Toward the end of the hatch a temperature of 105° may be 
allowed without harmful results. An increase in the amount 
of ventilation helps the success of the last few days of incu- 
bation. 

Success with incubators seems to have become more gen- 
eral since provisions have been made, in most machines, for 
maintaining the right degree of moisture in the egg chamber. 

The first class modern incubator will keep the right tem- 
perature like clockwork, if cared for by a person of average 
intelligence. 

Just how much variation in temperature, and other 
changes of a physical nature — such as moisture, etc. — a hatch- 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 33 

ing egg will go through, and still produce a healthy chicken, 
is hard to determine. 

We know that sustained high temperatures are fatal, that 
sustained low temperatures mean the death of the germ, that 
lack of moisture drys down the embryo, so that it cannot de- 
velop properly, and causes it to stick to the shell, thus pre- 
venting it from freeing itself at the last, and also that an 
excess of moisture develops the chicken out of proportion, 
causing it to fill the shell so full that the chicken cannot turn 
around freely and sufficiently to break its prison walls, when 
the time of development is up. 

A sitting hen gets ofif the nest to feed, and sometimes stays 
off the nest, even in cool temperature for two or three hours, 
and still brings ofif a goodly hatch of youngsters. 

A hen also turns her eggs. Whether she knows why she 
turns them, or not, is a question. Turning the eggs helps to 
prevent the embryo sticking to the shell, because the construc- 
tion of the egg always keeps the live germ uppermost, even 
before incubation starts, and during incubation the growing 
embryo remains in a suspended condition in the egg, with the 
development always on the upper side, and if an egg is turned, 
the contents will shift so as to keep this same uppermost posi- 
tion, and thus change the position relative to the shell. It is the 
weakening of these provisions, through staleness of the eggs 
which causes the "spots" which are thrown out in candling 
when they reach the market. 

The probabilities are that a hen moves the eggs (turns 
them) in order to get the cooler outside eggs under her, and 
thus relieve her feverish condition ; and in endeavoring to 
increase her own comfort kills two birds with one stone ; first, 
insures that the eggs are turned, and second, that all the eggs, 
by being moved and shifted to the center, get an equal share 
of heat units in the total period of incubation. 

It requires a certain number of heat units to develop a 
crop of corn, or any other grain, and these units must be sup- 
plied before a certain limit of low temperature in the season 
(that is, before frost) prevents further growth. 

A hatching embryo, in the same way, must have a certain 
number of heat units, and must have them without sustained 
variation above or below certain limits, and also within a 
certain time. If the heat is maintained at too low an average 



34 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

temperature the chick will not develop sufficiently before it is 
due to hatch ; and if a relative excessive temperature is main- 
tained, the chick is developed before the time of exclusion is 
due. Normally the chicken will begin to "pip" the shell on 
the eighteenth day, and will, after "pipping" through in one 
spot, work all around until the shell is broken in two, on the 
twenty-first day. When a hatch is late, cloths wrung out of 
warm water, and placed in the egg chamber, will help the 
hatch. The author in 1892 had eggs in an incubator which 
had been shipped from Boston, Mass., to Lead, So. Dakota, 
and not an egg was "pipped" on the twenty-first day, and the 
use of damp warm cloths brought off a fair hatch. 

To show the variation in moisture which an egg can sur- 
vive, the author remembers an experience in Hand County, 
South Dakota, on his mother's farm in 1882. On account of 
the low temperature of sometimes between 20° and 30° be- 
low zero, or lower, a pit was dug out for the house, and an 
"A" roof put over this pit, with the doors and windows in the 
south side of the "A". During a heavy thunderstorm the pit 
was completely filled with water, entirely covering two nests 
of eggs, and driving the hens off the same. It was over four 
hours before the water lowered, and the hens went back on 
the nests, and they brought off good hatches. This was a 
surprise to us all, as we had given up all idea of seeing any 
chickens appear. 

If eggs are taken just before "pipping" the shell, and 
placed in a large pan of warm water, the action of the chicks 
in pecking at the shell causes the eggs to move over the sur- 
face of the water, and is a comical sight. Eggs never seem to 
hatch any poorer for these experiences. 



\- an illustration of the ability of birds to take care of themselves, and of their 
knowlcdge of conditions best suited to their needs, about twenty turkeys roosted on 
the top of this "A" chicken house every night. Several attempts were made to drive 
them into more sheltered positions, but without success. 

They stayed on top of this "A" house in all weathers and temperatures above 
zero or thereabouts. If it got below zero, and there was a high wind, they would 
move; but when not windy they would roost there when it got down to 15° below 
zero. A drop in the reading of the thermometer to 20° or lower below zero, however, 
would find the turkeys going to roost on a straw stack about two hundred feet away. 

One would think that, knowing the straw stack was there, they would roost there 
all winter, but they would never seek the shelter of this straw stack, except in stormy 
weather or extreme temperatures. 

The only plausible explanation of this is that, as stated before in this little book, 
fowls think, "and they must have felt more secure on this "A" roof, and determined to 
stay there, until forced by their sense of danger from cold to seek a better shelter. 



CHAPTER III 

Brooding, Breeding and Yarding 

Brooding Problems 

Under hens, brooding, except for supplying proper feed, 
the requirements of which will not vary much from artificial 
brooding, resolves itself into care of the hens. 

Under artificial brooding other problems have to be faced, 
the principal of which is supplying artificial heat in proper 
manner to the chicks. 

Artificial brooding may be either indoor or outdoor. Out- 
door brooding must almost of necessity be carried on with 
small flocks, because the capacity of nearly all outdoor brood- 
ers is limited to the care of about fifty chicks, at the outside, 
up to the age when they need no further hovering. 

This is a serious objection to outdoor brooding for large 
flocks, because the work of caring for many brooders in this 
manner will prove arduous. A more serious objection, how- 
ever, and one which materially afifects the growth and well 
being of the chicks, will be that, owing to weather conditions, 
coupled with the fact that probably several hours of day light 
will pass away before the arrival of the attendant, the chicks 
will be confined within the limited space of the brooders for 
too many hours for their welfare. 

There are at the present time many good indoor brooders 
manufactured. Some of these require special provision in the 
shape of a pit or depression to care for the lamp. Some of the 
later makes of indoor brooders are made in such a self-con- 
tained and safe manner, that they can be placed on any ordin- 
ary floor without any special provisions being necessary in 
the building. These can also be used as outdoor brooders, if 
thought desirable, or, on special occasions, by placing them in 
large boxes for protection from the weather. 

For a larger poultry business, there are brooders manu- 
factured, and in use, which care for from fourteen hundred to 
fifteen hundred chickens in one lot. These brooders originated 
in California, and proved quite a success there — in fact they 

35 



36 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

proved such a success that a few, who were expert in handling 
them, made a business of contracting to raise chickens by their 
use up to a time past brooding age. This type of brooders 
have now been proved practical in all parts of the country. 

Some people are fairly successful in raising young chick- 
ens in fireless brooders, and if carefully tended they may be 
raised this way in small flocks. The objection to this kind of 
contrivances, however, is that the attendant must be con- 
stantly "on the job" or disaster follows, and, if a number are 
in use, the labor and time items are serious ones to be con- 
sidered. 

For the poultryman desiring to raise one hundred to one 
hundred and twenty-five chickens, the portable brooders or 
hovers, which can be set anywhere on the floor of a house or 
shed, will prove practical. Each make of these brooders will 
have manufacturers' directions which should be followed. 

For the poultryman in a larger way such units could be 
multiplied, or a larger brooder could be used to care for from 
five hundred to fifteen hundred chickens. 

Let us now look at the requirements for successful brood- 
ing. Under hens, when the chicks feel chilled they huddle 
under the hen's body, and are warmed by direct contact with 
the same. Not only so, but the hen's intelligence is used to 
prevent the chicks getting chilled, because she watches over 
them and calls them to her to be huddled. 

Under artificial brooding, there are three main requisites ; 
first, that a warm place be furnished where the chicks can 
hover, second that the air in or under this hover be kept pure 
and wholesome, and third, that the chicks have no opportunity 
or excuse for crowding. 

When outdoor brooders are used, these provisions are 
fairly cared for if the brooders are run at the right tempera- 
ture. When run at too low a temperature the chicks will 
crowd ; and, if run at too high a temperature the chicks may 
not be able to get away from the heat ; and, if overheated the 
probabilities are they will never entirely regain the stamina 
lost thereby, and they will always be backward in growth as 
a result of this overheating. These are some of the reasons 
in fa\or of brooding with the movable hovers. 

The portable hovers can be set on the floor of a house or 
shed, and they should be heated up some hours before the 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 37 

chicks are placed under them. Some straw or other litter 
should be spread on the floor and under the hover, and the 
chicks should be placed under the hovers to become hover- 
broke. 

Whatever style of brooder is used, it should be started up 
and be got in readiness several hours before the arrival of the 
chicks, in order that the flock of little birds will not be met 
with a chilly reception when they appear on the scenes. 

Preparation is a sure preventative of several causes of 
trouble. 

In trimming brooder lamps, either the wick should be 
turned up far enough to slightly snip the corners with a pair 
of shears, or the charred wick should be rubbed or wiped off 
to slightly rounded corners. A wick trimmed in this manner 
will not smoke, even if turned up to a relatively high flame. 
The least suspicion of a pointed flame at the side of the wick 
is likely to cause smoking and consequent danger from over- 
heated lamp founts. 

About the last act of the chickens before they emerge 
from the shell, in the hatching process, is the absorbing of the 
yolk. This yolk takes thirty-six hours or more to digest, and 
the chickens not only do not need anything to eat or drink 
under thirty-six hours, from the time they are excluded, but 
it is generally harmful to feed them anything sooner than this. 
Advantage is taken of this provision in nature to ship "day 
old chicks" at this time. They can, at this stage, be shipped 
with perfect safety and with no ill effects a distance of one 
thousand miles or more. 

The "day old chick" business has grown tremendously in 
the past three or four years. There seems to be less oppor- 
tunity for disputes or dissatisfaction in the purchase of day 
old chicks, than in the purchase of eggs for hatching. On the 
arrival of the chicks, the purchaser can see and count what 
he has received ; and on the other hand, the seller is saved the 
annoyance and dissatisfaction of claims and disputes from 
patrons, whose troubles are caused in a great many cases 
through the fault of others in the handling of the eggs in 
shipment ; or, in a great many other cases, by the carelessness 
or ignorance of the purchaser during incubation. 

When the chicks arrive, take a coil of wire, of one inch 
or half inch mesh poultry netting, one foot or more wide. Nail 



38 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



or staple one end to a standard, with a footing on it so it will 
not topple over. Have another standard on which to place 
the roll or coil of wire. Now place this wire around the hover, 
in such a manner that the chicks cannot get away from the 
hover more than a few inches, until they know or learn where 
the place is where they can get warmed up. 




Enclosure for Young Chicks Described on This Page 

When the chicks are hover-broke, loosen or unwind some 
of the coil of wire, so as to make a yard all the way around the 
hover, say three or four feet away ; and give them their first 
food of fine grit of some kind. Sprinkle a little steel cut oat- 
meal (sometimes called pinhead oatmeal) around for them to 
pick up, and you will be surprised to see how soon they learn 
to eat, if you have no experience in this line. 

Now provide water for them to drink, but use care as to 
how you provide it. Do not leave it where chicks can get into 
it, or step in it all the time; for, if you do, they will foul the 
water and get chilled by getting wet. A small automatic foun- 
tain can be used, and a few pebbles or stones can be placed at 
the drinking fount of same, for two or three days, to keep their 
feet from going in the water. This will also insure against 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



39 



some of the chicks being* drowned, for it does not take much 
water to drown chicks a day or two old. 

If you have no automatic fountain, you can take an 
empty tomato can, or a similar sized can, and find a saucer or 
other shallow vessel a little larger in diameter than the outside 
of the can. Punch two holes near the open end of the can, and 
at a depth so that when inverted, and placed in the saucer, 




Gallon Tomato Can Drinking Fountain 

the holes will be below the top of the same. You can now 
fill the tomato can with water, place the saucer over it and 
invert, and you will have a fine drinking fountain. If you 
place a weight on the top of the can, it will make it safer from 
danger of upsetting. The same style of fountain can be made 
of larger vessels for grow r n fowls, and will prove far better 
than open vessels, although not so convenient as regular auto- 
matic fountains, which can be purchased at very reasonable 
prices. 



40 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

After the chicks get started eating and drinking, they can 
be fed on rolled oats or steel cut oatmeal, commercial chick 
feed and broken rice, or whatever other feeds in a fine state, 
and in variety, can be procured locally. Boiled rice is relished 
for a change, but must be fed with the moisture nearly all out, 
so it will not be mushy. This boiled rice helps out also in case 
of bowel trouble. Care must be used, however, not to leave 
any around to get sour. 

You will also need charcoal, grit, and oyster shells. 

Little chicks can be fed on boards with a strip of lath 
nailed around the edges, to prevent the feed from being scat- 
tered. If a board, about six inches high, is nailed upright in 
the center, and an opening is made for a handle, this kind of 
feeding trough will be very convenient, even for grown fowls, 
to feed a moistened mash. A feeding board, made in this man- 
ner, also protects the mash from being trampled on. 

Growing chicks must be fed liberally if they are expected to 
mature early. A stunted chicken will never mature properly, 
or obtain its fullest possible growth, any more than will a 
stunted calf or colt. 

If fed on the right kind of food, the writer does not think 
it possible to overfeed chicks after two weeks old. However 
full their crops, they are always ready for a taste of something 
new, and they should be given plenty of opportunities for grati- 
fying this taste. We are considering now only chicks which 
are fed regularly — not chicks kept in an alternate condition of 
starvation and plenty. 

In feeding chicks, we should not lose sight of the fact 
that we are manufacturing "egg machines/' and chicks which 
never have their crops distended will develop small crops pro- 
portionately ; hence, will have smaller fuel boxes for use in 
manufacturing eggs later. Growing chicks can be fed an extra 
meal late at night, if a good artificial light is used. 

The writer has raised Leghorn chicks now for several 
years, and has always collected the first pullet eggs in from 
one to three weeks under five months from hatching. He lias 
also seen chickens hatched from his own eggs, at the same 
time, and in the same incubators, which, for three or four sea- 
sons running, did not lay an egg before from seven to seven 
and a half months from hatching. It all depends on the care. 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 41 

and liberal feeding, which the chicks receive while obtaining 
their growth. 

Nothing is so dangerous to growing chicks as crowding, 
and the greatest care must be used to see that they do not 
get to feel chilled. This care must be taken even after they 
have started to roost, if the weather suddenly gets cold. In 
such cases the heat should be started up again in the hovers 
if possible. 

The greatest danger in crowding is when chicks get into 
corners; but they can be taught, if they are started right, to 
always go to the hover. 

After the chicks are hover-broke and are four or five days 
old, they will, if of the active breeds like Leghorns, begin to 
jump over the wire enclosure previously described, if such an 




Feeding Board Described on Page 40 
(With Supports to Raise Above the Litter for Grown Fowls) 

enclosure is used. When they do this, the "yard" can be ex- 
tended by unrolling more wire, and leaving an opening where 
the ends come. This opening can be made at the side of the 
house nearest the light to make its finding easy. The chicks 
will learn at once that they can get out all around the house 
or shed. Litter should be all over the floor. At dusk they 
should be watched very carefully for a day or two, as some 
of them, maybe only two or three, will fail to find the opening 
to the hover. 

You will be surprised and amused to see how hard they 
will work to find this opening, and after a day or two you will 
have no trouble. When the chicks are all in their yard, or 
after they are trained, you can close the opening to this yard 
at your last visit for the night ; and place feed and water inside 
the yard ready for morning. 

The floor inside this yard should always be kept covered 
with litter, and the vard can be narrowed down to within a 



42 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



foot or two all around the hover at night, till the chicks are a 
few days old. 

The hover should be run at a good temperature, and this 
temperature can be judged as well by the action of the chicks 
as by the thermometer reading. Do not make the.mistake that 
some people do of trying to have the chicks furnish the heat 
to keep the hover warm, from a mistaken sense of economy 
and saving in fuel. It is safe to err on the side of high rather 
than low temperature, w r ith this kind of hover, because the 
chicks can get away to where it suits their comfort to be. 

Too much emphasis cannot be laid on the danger from 
crowding. If the temperature gets too low, and the chicks 
crowd badly, several w r ill be smothered and serious loss will 
result; but the loss from dead chicks does not begin to tell the 
story. Three-fourths of the lot of chicks may be practically 
ruined by one night's crowding. Many chicks may be crippled, 
and it will be found that once a chicken has been half smoth- 
ered in crowding it never gets over it — it may live but seems 
to have lost stamina. 

Relatively high temperatures under the hovers obviates 
this danger, and herein lies the success of the large brooders 
mentioned, because the heat keeps the chicks at a distance and 
scattered. The same thing happens with the portable hovers, 
if run at high enough temperatures. Ninety to a hundred de- 
grees under the hover, when no chicks are under it creating 
heat, will keep the chicks scattered around the outside on the 
litter. 

Care must be exercised to keep the floor and litter dry. 
The litter under the hover should be cleaned out and renewed 
every three or four days. 

If the hover is run "right" the chicks after a day or two 
will remain, when they ''retire/' all around the hover on the 
litter with their heads facing outward ; so that if there are a 
lot of them they will appear as a mat all around the hover — 
each chick close against the others, but not crowded. As the 
night gets cooler, you will find them gradually moving to the 
warmth under the hover. 

The advantages of these hovers, run in this way, over 
outdoor brooders are that, when it gets daylight, at from 
three to four a. m., the chicks do not have to wait for the 
attendant before they can obtain plenty of fresh air, exercise, 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 43 

feed, and water, but are ready for business as soon as they 
can see. 

They can also be made perfectly safe from rats, cats, or 
other vermin, and they need not be let outside at all, if prop- 
erly fed, until they are four or live weeks old. 

Green stuff must be provided for the chicks regularly. A 
little chopped cabbage, some lettuce, w r eeds, lawn clippings. 
sprouted oats, etc., will provide this satisfactorily. 

Keep the chicks growing, and feed them beef scraps or cut 
bone, after they are three or four days old. 

If you have a garden, you will provide exercise, food, and 
excitement for the chicks, and great amusement for yourself, 
if you dig up a few worms occasionally and let the chicks have 
them. If you have an enclosed yard, as suggested, around the 
hover, you will have a regular circus and race track exhibition, 
both inside and outside the fence. 

What Breed? 

One of the first puzzles a novice in poultry keeping will 
face, will be what breed to choose for his particular purpose. 

If the production of table poultry is the object, the choice 
will likely fall on the heavy Asiatic fowls, or a compromise 
of the middle weight breeds. If the object is a combination 
of eggs and table poultry the choice will likely be one of the 
middle weight breeds. If the primary object is the production 
of eggs in large numbers, the Mediterranean classes will fur- 
nish opportunities for choice. 

The fancy of the poultryman will often decide what breed 
to choose — he may have a leaning to some particular breed. 

Whatever breed is chosen, as much depends on the man- 
agement of the flock as on the breed. A good poultryman will 
succeed with comparatively poor stock, while a poor poultry- 
man will fail with the best stock obtainable. 

There are several reasons why only thoroughbreds of some 
variety should be kept ; and also why only one variety should 
be kept on the plant — in other w^ords "one farm one breed." 
The owner will take much pride in having uniform flocks. 
This pride will affect his success in various ways. There is 
no pleasure in showing one's flocks to friends, neighbors or 
visitors if they are a lot of scrubs or mongrels. When a breed 



44 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

of thoroughbreds is kept the opportunity will come to sell eggs 
for hatching (or day old chicks if the plant is a large one), 
which will add considerably to the possible profits. 

However clever the poultryman, and however great his 
success in handling his flocks, if he has ambitions, he can never 
attain the pinnacle in the poultry business unless his stock 
is thoroughbred. 

Another reason which will make it desirable to keep 
thoroughbreds, of only one variety or breed, is that each va- 
riety or breed needs different treatment and feeding for results. 

Of still greater moment to the beginner, or struggler after 
success, is the extra work entailed in keeping flocks separate, 
when more than one breed is kept, and the constant watchful- 
ness necessary, during the breeding season, to insure against 
a mixture of the varieties of fowls. 

Meat Production a By-Product. 

To the poultryman who has chosen his breed with a view 
to profitable egg production, the sale of chickens or fowls for 
market will be a by-product proposition. 

Young cockerels and the cull pullets may be sold either as 
squab broilers, or, from the time when about three months 
old or more, as spring chickens. 

A hen will not continue to lay indefinitely, and the profit- 
able period of egg laying will not extend much over three 
years from the time the birds are matured. 

After a poultryman has got his start, it will therefore be 
necessary to replace some of his stock with young birds an- 
nually ; and he will thus have some of the older birds to send 
to market each year. 

Oil or other fuel, litter, and feed will cost from between 
eighteen and twenty-five cents per chicken to raise them to 
the age of there months. 

After this age, it will cost more to feed them. They then 
develop faster and use more feed. An allowance may be made 
of from ten to twelve cents per month to feed the pullets for 
the next three months, by which time (when they are six 
months old) they should be producing eggs if properly fed 
and matured. 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 45 

We thus have an approximate cost of between forty-eight 
cents and fifty-five cents for food only, to produce a pullet to 
laying age. 

If day old chicks are purchased, the cost for good stock 
will be from twelve to twenty-five cents each. 

If the chicks are hatched from one's own eggs, there will 
probably be a general average of about fifty per cent hatched 
from all the eggs set. 

Hatches of fifty per cent of all the eggs set will be con- 
sidered a conservative estimate by most poultrymen — many 
would be pleased to do that well. 

If we figure the price of eggs (as table eggs) at thirty 
cents per dozen, we will, with a fifty per cent hatch, get birds 
at a cost slightly in excess of five cents each — making allow- 
ances for the cost of oil for incubators, or the feed of hatching 
hens. 

We thus arrive at a probable cost of between sixty cents 
and eighty cents for matured pullets, if day old chicks are 
purchased ; and between fifty-three cents and sixty cents if 
one's own eggs are used for hatching, based on the price of 
table eggs. 

These figures do not allow for any losses from mortality 
through sickness or accident. Losses of this nature will vary 
from ten to twenty per cent — sometimes more — depending on 
the stamina of the flock, or on the intelligent care they receive. 

Even at the lower probable cost, here given, of fifty-three 
cents (when chicks are hatched at home from one's own eggs, 
with whatever more mortality costs are to be added thereto) 
it will be readily seen that with the lighter breeds, such as 
Leghorns, which would only weigh about three pounds at this 
age, the poultryman will have to look to his tgg production, 
rather than to the meat market, for his profits. 

As a by-product, however, there is some satisfaction in 
the knowledge that after a period of two and one-half years, 
from this time, of profitable laying the pullets will, with a 
slight increase in their weight at three years of age, bring 
about as much on the market, if in good condition, as they 
will when first matured. 

The poultryman will also have the satisfaction of know- 
ing that the period of his greatest risks are about over at this 



46 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

time. Broilers die off faster than mature fowls from various 
causes. 

When raising a flock of layers, the poultryman will get 
some relief in his expense account when the cockerels and the 
cull pullets are sold. Leghorn cockerels will weigh from one 
to one and a half pounds at ten weeks of age. 

Whether the cockerels are sold, or not, they should be 
separated from the pullets when they are from six to seven 
weeks old. This separation will give the pullets a better 
opportunity for development. Leghorn cockerels mature early 
and are very precocious — we have had them crowing under six 
weeks of age. Both the pullets and the cockerels will develop 
faster w T hen separated. 

For the reasons given, the egg poultryman will get his 
eggs first, and will endeavor to sell his meat by-product for 
as much, after taking his profits, as he could have realized 
from his birds at maturity. 

The figures in this chapter are, of course, only estimates. 
In actual practice better results may be obtained. Figuring 
and estimating to be safe must take account of risks and losses ; 
and these probable losses and risks should be discounted be- 
fore the start — then, if any of them are escaped, so much the 
better. 

Yards and Exercise. 

The space devoted to yards, or runs, for the poultry will 
depend to a great extent on the amount of space available. 
The poultryman on the city or suburban lot is necessarily lim- 
ited in his yard space. 

To the poultryman with unlimited ground, the amount 
of yard or run space will vary, according to his judgment and 
available funds for fencing, etc. The suburbanite need not be 
discouraged by his restriction in space, for, if a small plot is 
taken care of, and his flock has all the necessary food elements 
supplied to them, he very often will find his production aver- 
age, or percentage, far exceeding that of the poultryman with 
unlimited space. 

Small yards should be spaded up occasionally, and should 
be limed at intervals of a few months, to keep them in a safe 
and sanitary condition. This spading will be the more neces- 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 47 

sary according to the nature of the soil. Clay soils or soils of 
a close texture soon become foul, and trampled down, so as 
to make them impermeable to water; whereas open, sandy, or 
gravelly soils allow the impurities to sink down into the sub- 
soil with every heavy rainfall. 

In its effect on egg production, runs which are very large 
may cut down this production by excess of exercise. Under 
certain circumstances, the food picked up may be mostly used 
up in muscular effort. 

A flock in good laying condition, and producing heavily, 
which had been confined in moderate sized yards, and then 
allowed to run over a wide stretch of ground all day, would 
almost surely drop off in egg yield in a day or two. The same 
flock if allowed only an hour or so, at or near dusk, so that 
they will return of their own accord, over the same ground, 
would very likely increase their egg yield by reason of this 
liberty. 

The records given by the writer were made in yards with- 
out a blade of green stuff growing therein, and the fowls were 
not outside of these yards over thirty minutes in three hundred 
and sixty-five days. 

Too much exercise reduces flesh and makes muscle — so 
much so that some butchers object to, and will refuse to pur- 
chase, Leghorn hens for marketing. Butchers have a basis for 
this objection in many cases. Fowds of the variety in ques- 
tion when half fed, or when forced to work hard for every 
bit of food they procure, will be tough eating. 

A Leghorn hen at the age of three years, that has been 
properly fed for egg production will, if in good condition for 
marketing, prove as good eating and as tender as any other 
variety of matured fowls at any age. We have eaten Leghorn 
hens from our yards when over four years old, which would 
be boiled tender in an hour and a quarter, and would separate 
from the bones when boiled for an hour and a half. 

Breeds like the Leghorns will make opportunities for 
themselves to take plenty of exercise, without providing large 
yards. 

Leghorn roosters will very likely be tough at any age 
after six or seven months, unless confined in a small coup or 
pen to reduce exercise, and fed liberally for a week or two 



48 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



before being dressed. If this is done, however, they will cook 
tender and prove good eating. 

In a few words, looking at this matter from a producing 
standpoint, if laying hens are expected to "pick up their 
living/' in order to economize on the feed bill, the economy 
in feed will be much more than offset by the domestic economv 
of the hen in a reduced tgg yield. 




That Satisfied and "Comfy" Feeling Which Helps to Fill the Egg Pail (See Page 10) 



CHAPTER IV 

Production and Care of Eggs 

Spring and Summer Eggs. 

Spring and early summer are the natural seasons for 
egg laying. Even in a wild or natural state this truth holds 
good. At these seasons the temperature is such that there is 
no great amount of food needed to keep up the bodily heat, 
and the necessary elements for egg producing are in great 
abundance. 

Green stuff is plentiful, animal food is easily picked up 
in the shape of worms, insects, bugs, etc. ; and numerous 
elements are detected by the sharp eyes of the hens, either 
on the bare ground or when brought to light by. scratching. 

Any hen that will ever produce eggs will do so at this 
time of the year, and the efforts of poultrymen for a great 
many years have been bent to simulate these conditions as 
much as possible, in order to increase production ; for, if the 
hens produce under these summer conditions, the reasoning 
seems sound that the nearer the approach to these conditions, 
at other seasons, the better the yield. 

This reasoning has proved out in actual practice, and 
production has steadily increased in proportion as these con- 
ditions have been furnished. 

From the wild jungle fowl laying twenty to thirty eggs 
annually to the general average for the United States of about 
sixty is quite a step, and the general average for well cared 
for farm flocks will run from sixty to eighty eggs per hen 
annually. 

Of course, if the food elements are supplied in abundance, 
production will be greatly increased, even in spring and 
summer. 

In the latter part of spring and early summer, broodiness 
of the hens cuts down the output considerably, unless this 
matter is watched. 

This condition also spoils a great many eggs, because the 
eggs are not gathered often enough, except by regular poul- 

49 



50 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

trymen, and broody hens are allowed to sit on the eggs all day 
or longer. 

The Asiatic and the heavy American breeds are especially 
troublesome in this respect. Where only a few fowls are to 
be cared for, one does not notice the trouble and bother of 
these broody hens very much ; but to the poultryman caring 
for from seventy-five to one thousand hens, or more, it be- 
comes quite a problem. 

The lighter Mediterranean breeds do not give so much 
trouble by broodiness, although even the Leghorns are some- 
times persistent sitters. 

Taking broody hens off the nests the first time, or so, 
when they stay on the nests at night, and placing them in a 
slatted coup with a slatted bottom, where they can get food 
and w r ater, and be in sight of the other fowls, will break up 
most of the lighter breeds in a day or two, when they can 
be let out to start getting ready to lay again. The slatted 
bottom on a coup allows a circulation of air to cool their 
bodies, and thus helps to eradicate the sitting fever. 

As the summer draws to an end, the egg production, if 
the hens are not fed properly, gradually dwindles down to 
almost nothing. 

There are several reasons for this : the discomfort from 
the heat, lack of shade, dead air in the poultry houses, be- 
cause no provisions have been made to have the air circulate, 
scarcity of good drinking water, and an irregular supply of 
water. 

It is false economy in every way to allow hens to be 
without water for one minute of their business hours. The 
composition of an egg is nearly two-thirds water, and to with- 
hold this, the cheapest element in production, is indeed short 
sightedness. Hens which are laying well, if allowed to really 
suffer from thirst for half a day or more, will very likely drop 
off in egg yield at once, and may not get back in form again 
for a week or more. 

Fall and Winter Eggs 

Tn late summer, and early fall, the hens will shed their 
feathers, or go through the moult. This process is the most 
trying of any through which the hens have to pass, and under 
unfavorable conditions will prove a severe drain on their 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 51 

constitutions and vitality. The losses from debility, at this 
critical time, will exceed those at any other season of the 
year. 

It can be noticed that, even in vigorous stocks of young 
chickens, perceptible and rapid growth does not seem to start 
until the birds complete their first coat of feathers, to replace 
the downy feathers they have when hatched. 

Liberal feeding should be resorted to during the moult, 
and, as the natural supply of animal food in the shape of 
worms, bugs, etc., is much less than early in the season, this 
should be supplemented by a more liberal allowance of animal 
food in the shape of beef scraps, green cut bone, ground fish 
bone, etc. 

Farm poultry generally quit laying at this time of the 
year, and lay off until spring. Fowls which are liberally fed, 
on a well balanced ration, will continue to lay while shedding 
their feathers ; but nearly every hen will stop laying for a 
longer or shorter period, while growing her new feathers. 

Early pullets, if properly matured, will have commenced 
laying by this time, and will help to keep up the regular 
supply of eggs. 

If the hens get completely through the moult, they will 
start to lay again and will lay more or less throughout the 
winter under proper care, and with extra liberal feeding. 

Summer conditions (or spring and early summer condi- 
tions ) are what have been preached at us by the poultry press 
for many years. These conditions have been stated as variety 
of feed, green feed in abundance and in a succulent state, and 
animal food. We cannot, however, supply the climatic condi- 
tions without heating arrangements, and nearly all attempts at 
keeping matured fowls in heated houses have proved failures, 
on account of their debilitating effects. 

YVe must overcome this difference in temperature by extra 
liberal feeding, if we are going to obtain results in eggs. It 
is going to cost money to keep a flock of hens over winter; 
and if Ave feed only enough to keep a hen in good condition, 
we are out that amount of money. Many flocks remain on 
the verge of laying all winter but do not start to lay until 
spring, because of the short sighted policy of their owners 
in furnishing just enough feed to keep them in good condition, 



52 



IN EC 



PRODUCTION 



and withholding the extra feed required which would produce 
the eggs to pay their board, and leave a surplus as a profit. 

Winter eggs cost money — they cost, in most cases, far 
more than they will sell for — even if sold as high as seventy- 
five cents per dozen. Even when obtained in winter, in liberal 
quantity, eggs will pay a better profit at thirty cents per 
dozen in spring than at fifty cents per dozen in winter, be- 
cause it takes much less feed to maintain the fowls in spring, 
and this leaves a surplus of food and energy to produce 
more eggs. 

The quantity of feed required for good production is as- 
tounding to most people; and these quantities can be judged 
by the statistics shown later on in this book. (Pages 56 and 79 

However, if hens do not pay any of their feed bills in 
winter, the profits of spring and summer will mostly disappear 
in making this loss good. We must, therefore, strive to get 
eggs in winter, even if we have to sell them at fancy prices 
below cost of production. 

Care of Eggs 

Fresh laid eggs are a delicacy, but to retain this delicacy 
they must be handled and cared for in a delicate way. The 
shell of an egg is porous, so porous that, during the process of 
hatching, air is supplied to the growing chicken through the 
shell. 

If an egg is kept in an unsanitary condition or near strong 
odors, it will be affected thereby. If eggs are kept on musty 
hay, or packed in a case where a little musty hay is used as 
part of the packing, they will become so musty as to be inedi- 
ble, although otherwise in good fresh condition. Nest eggs 
are made, and are offered for sale, which contain carbolic acid 
and other disinfectants, on the theory that they keep away 
lice from the nests. It will be found that where these are 
used, when the hens begin to get broody, the eggs will be 
flavored by such nest eggs. 

Eggs where roosters run with the flock will also be fer- 
tilized, and therefore contain potential life — only needing tem- 
peratures of eighty-five degrees or ninety degrees, and above, 
to start this potential life into growth. 

The process of successful incubation only requires tem- 
peratures between one hundred degrees and one hundred 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 53 

five degrees without much variation, for long periods, above 
or below this range of temperature, and certain conditions of 
pure air and moisture. There is nothing offensive about a 
hatching egg — the offensiveness comes in as a result of a start 
in incubation, and a subsequent death of the germ. 

Eggs, therefore, must be kept at cool temperatures during 
the whole period between the nest and the table, and in sani- 
tary and odorless places. 

Some eggs may be laid containing blood spots, and, while 
these eggs may be perfectly good, they should not be packed 
to be sold with high class eggs. To obviate the possibility of 
this happening, eggs should be "candled" the same day as laid, 
and eggs showing blood spots should be culled out. 

The cause of blood spots in eggs seems to be an open 
question, which the writer does not presume to settle. He 
has found in his experience, however, that a frequent occur- 
rence of spots in eggs happened when there w r as an excess 
of roosters in the pen ; and that the trouble stopped almost 
immediately when the number of roosters was reduced. 

Another mooted question is whether hens or pullets will 
lay as well or better with roosters in the flock, than they will 
if roosters are not in evidence. The more natural condition 
seems to be to have the roosters run with the flock at all 
seasons. 

The author is of the opinion that hens will lay better, 
and be more contented, with roosters running with them than 
they will be without them. He did not think it made very 
much difference in the egg yield until one season, being short 
of roosters, he put them all in one pen — separated from the 
next pen only by a wire netting. In the course of about two 
weeks the eggs from the roosterless pen began to be smaller, 
and several eggs w r ere gathered too small for marketing. 
Being at a loss to account for this condition, he reversed mat- 
ters by placing .the roosters in this pen, and in a few days 
the trouble stopped. It was not long, however, until the other 
pen developed the same condition ; and the results were so 
peculiarly interesting, that conditions were reversed once or 
twice more to make the test convincing. 

To reach the market, and obtain the best price, eggs 
should be packed neatly and attractively. All the eggs should 



54 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

be clean and, for the best price, uniform in color and size. 
All misshapen eggs should be culled out. 

"Ask the Birds, Their Judgment Is Good" 

This suggestion, to "Ask the birds, their judgment is 
good," has appeared in several parts of the text of this little 
book, and will bear reiteration. A regard, or disregard, of 
the idea embodied in these words, will always mark the dif- 
ference between the successful and unsuccessful poultryman. 

The fancier, of course, will, by the very fact of his being 
a fancier, take pains to maintain his birds in comfort — he is 
in the business for the love of the game. 

The poultryman who expects returns in eggs, in sufficient 
number to return him a profit, however, must be in touch with 
the needs of his flock. The question has been tritely put, 
"Why keep chickens? Let the chickens keep you!" 

Another way of stating the fact that a poultryman must 
know his business, in order to draw dividends, was used by 
two men in discussing the poultry business — one of them re- 
marked, "There is money in the chicken business," to which 
remark the other replied, "Yes, I know there is ; I have put it 
there." 

Now, unless one has an unlimited bank account, this 
idea, in money matters, of "putting it there" must soon come 
to an end ; and it does come to an end for many who engage 
in this business of poultry keeping. 

Rosy outlooks are presented of what may be expected 
from this business, and mathematical calculations are made of 
the increase in flocks, or the production in eggs, which cause 
many to enter a business of which they know nothing, and 
for which they have not the necessary qualifications. 

It is true in all lines of business that "business is busi- 
ness," and the poultry business is no exception. 

To be successful, "details" (that horrid word which so 
many detest) must be attended to, as a regular performance; 
and for this attendance many are not fitted by nature. 

The business of producing eggs and poultry will not be 
overdone, if for no other reason than that it takes men of 
special qualifications to stay in the game successfully. There 
is no royal road to success in poultry keeping. All that can 
be learned from books on this subject are certain fundamental 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 55 

truths ; but no person can give another the detail knowledge 
necessary to carry him safely through all his difficulties. The 
poultryman must have a large share of initiative qualities for 
his own guidance. 

The action of the birds will always indicate, to the one 
possessing these qualifications, the needs to be met or fur- 
nished for the well being and comfort of his flock. Whether 
he puts it in so many words or not, even to himself, he knows 
enough to "Ask the birds, their judgment is good." 

Production Under Present Methods. 

Under the methods in present use, egg production has 
its periods of famine and plenty. In spring and early summer 
hens produce well, in late summer and early fall the yield 
falls off, and in fall and winter we have to rely on early 
hatched pullets to supply most of the eggs. Pullets hatched 
too early are prone to stop laying, and moult again when 
winter sets in, and not return to laying again before late 
winter or spring. The hens, if they moult well, and get com- 
pletely over the moult before the advent of cold weather, will 
lay well in early winter, but will gradually drop off in egg 
yield after the weather gets colder. 

Liberal feeding will produce good results, if the rations 
are fairly w^ell balanced. The writer always succeeded in 
getting winter eggs, even when the weather reached low tem- 
peratures for long periods. 

It was this fact that led to further research as to why, if 
some of the hens and pullets laid, more of them did not do so 
under his efforts to supply "summer conditions." 

Every item of feed had to be purchased, as his flocks were 
continually kept yarded up. 

To give an idea of the liberal feeding, and the resulting 
production, the following tables are presented for his flock 
for 1913. In this lot were ninety-six one and a half year, and 
two and a half year old hens, at the beginning of the year 
1913, and forty pullets hatched May 3rd, 1912. 

The record of the exact dates when some of these hens 
were sold, or dropped out of the race, is not available, so that 
a correct percentage cannot be figured out for this year. They 
were sold off down to ninety-five during the spring of 1913, 



56 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

in order to make room for day old chicks arriving on 
April 28th. 

At the end of 1913 we had ninety-five hens — some one 
and a half years, some two and a half years, and a few three 
and a half years old ; and sixty-five pullets hatched April 28th, 
1913. 

Following on this page are the exact figures for feed 
purchased. This feed was used to raise the young stock as 
well as being fed for egg production. 

The writer will cheerfully admit some waste in feeding; 
but, as an explanation, of this waste, he had to leave home 
every morning (except Sunday) before seven a. m., and did 
not return home again before seven-thirty p. m., and often not 
before ten p. m. Under these circumstances, in order to make 
the best production, he decided to provide an excess rather 
than a shortage of feed — hence some waste. 

The detail records of the egg production and comments 
on them will appear in the following pages : 

Feed Purchased in the Year 1913 

Weight in 
Date Pounds Variety Total 

Tanuary 1 100 Scratch Feed- • $ 1.75 

4 100 Scratch Feed..................... 1.85 

8 100 Mash ............................ 2.50 

8 100 Scratch Feed. .................... 1.85 

13 100 Mash 2.15 

13 200 Scratch Feed- 3.50 

16 100 1 bbl. Cabbage .................... 1.75 

16 64 2 bus. Cats.... .80 

20 100 Scratch Feed.......... .......... 1.75 

22 100 Scratch Feed 1.69 

23 55 Beef Scraps ...................... 1.78 

29 100 Scratch Feed 1.69 



Total. .....1,219 $23.06 



February 3 200 Scratch Feed $ 3.40 

3 100 Mash ............................ 1.89 

10 200 Scratch Feed 3.38 

10 100 Oyster Shells........ ......... .80 

13 100 1 bbl. Cabbage................... 1.50 

17 100 Scratch Feed 1.73 

21 100 Scratch Feed . 1.72 

25 100 Scratch Feed..................... 1.85 

Total. .....1,000 $16.27 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 57 

Weight in 

Date Pounds Variety Total 

March 3 50 Beef Scraps. . ............ .V, .$ 1.63 

3 200 Scratch Feed 3.30 

4 100 1 bbl. Cabbage.................... 1.50 

7 100 Screenings ....................... 1.39 

8 100 Mash 2.50 

8 1 bale Straw........... .35 

8 64 2 bus. Oats. ...................... .80 

12 100 Mash 1.79 

12 100 Scratch Feed. 1.85 

12 100 Screenings ....................... 1.39 

13 100 Scratch Feed- .................... 1.85 

19 100 Scratch Feed..................... 1.85 

21 100 Charcoal ......................... 2.25 

22 100 Scratch Feed- .................... 1.85 

26 100 Scratch Feed..................... 1.85 

27 100 1 bbl. Cabbage................... 1.40 

28 100 Scratch Feed- .................... 1.85 

31 J00 Scratch Feed. ................... . 1.85 

Total. .....1,714 $31.25 

April 1 50 Beef Scraps ............ ....... 1.63 

1 200 Scratch Feed 3.70 

1 100 Screenings ....................... 1.39 

10 100 Mash 2.25 

10 100 Scratch Feed. .................... 1.85 

12 100 Scratch Feed..................... 1.85 

17 100 Scratch Feed..................... 1.85 

22 200 Scratch Feed- .................... 3.70 

22 100 Mash 2.25 

23 50 Chick Feed....................... 1.10 

24 50 Chick Feed- ...................... 1.10 

25 1 bale Straw- ..................... .40 

25 2 gal. Oil..- 33 

25 10 Fine Grit. ........................ .09 

25 4 Oatmeal 20 

26 5 Rice 30 

26 _Sj Oatmeal ........................ . .25 

Total. .....1,174 $24.24 

May 1 100 Scratch Feed- .......... r ......... .$ 1.85 

1 50 Beef Scraps...................... 1.63 

1 50 Oyster Shells 40 

1 50 Grit ............................. .40 

3 64 2 bus. Oats 80 

6 100 Mash 2.25 

6 200 Scratch Feed..................... 3.70 

9 200 Scratch Feed 3.40 

22 100 Mash 2.25 

29 100- Scratch Feed. ................... .^^85 

Total 1,014 $18.53 



58 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

Weight in 

Date Pounds Variety Total 

Tune 2 250 Scratch Feed 4.25 

2 50 Chick Feed....................... 1.25 

2 50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

2 100 Mash ............................ 2.25 

2 50 Alfalfa Meal 1.25 

6 50 Oyster Shells 40 

6 50 Grit 40 

6 100 Mash 2.25 

9 128 4 bus. Oats 1.80 

11 150 Scratch Feed 2.49 

11 50 Screenings ....................... .60 

13 50 Chick Feed 1.25 

14 100 Cracked Corn. .................... 1.39 

18 100 Scratch Feed 1.85 

19 200 Toasted Corn Flakes- ............. 2.00 

24 100 Scratch Feed..................... 1.85 

25 200 Scratch Feed 3.40 

33 10 Grit 09 



Total. .....1,788 $30.40 

July 1 50 Beef Scrap. ..................... .$ 1.63 

1 50 Chick Feed. ...................... 1.25 

3 160 Mixed Meal 2.00 

5 100 Mash ............................ 2.25 

7 100 Scratch Feed 1.85 

10 100 Scratch Feed 1.85 

14 300 Scratch Feed. . ................... 5.55 

16 50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

16 50 Oyster Shells- .................... .40 

16 100 Mash 2.25 

19 50 Mixed Feed.............. 85 

21 250 Scratch Feed- ................... . 3.95 

26 250 Mixed Meal 3.13 



Total. .....1,610 $28.59 



August 1 100 Mash $2.25 

1 100 Scratch Feed 1.85 

1 128 4 bus. Oats....................... 1.84 

2 50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

12 200 Scratch Feed 3.70 

12 100 Grit .80 

18 100 Mash ............................ 2.25 

18 100 Scratch Feed 1.85 

21 200 Scratch Feed 3.70 

29 100 Scratch Feed...... 1.95 

Total. .....1,178 $21.82 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



59 



Weight in 

Date Pounds Variety Total 

September 3 50 Beef Scraps. ..................... .$1.63 

3 100 Scratch Feed 1.95 

3 100 Oyster Shells ..................... .80 

3 100 Mash 2.25 

7 300 Scratch Feed. .................... 5.40 

7 100 Mash 2.25 

10 200 Scratch Feed 3.60 

18 50 Alfalfa Meal. ..................... 1.00 

18 50 Beef Scraps...................... 1.63 

18 100 Mash 2.25 

27 10.. Oil Meal......................... 1.00 

27 100 Scratch Feed 2.10 



Total .....1,260 



$25.86 



October 


1 


•• 


1 


" 


3 


a 


4 


" 


9 


it 


13 


" 


13 


" 


23 


tt 


25 


(( 


30 



200 Mash ............................ 4.50 

200 Scratch Feed • , 4.20 

50 Beef Scraps- 1.63 

126 Yellow Turnips 1.73 

200 Scratch Feed. .................... 4.20 

128 4 bus. Oats 1.92 

100 Scratch Feed. . ................... 1.90 

100 Mash • 2.25 

100 Scratch Feed- .................... 1.90 

100 Scratch Feed- .................... 1.90 



Total. .....1,304 



$26.13 



November 3 
3 
3 
5 

12 
13 
18 
19 
22 
25 
26 
29 



50 Beef Scraps.................. ... 1.63 

200 Mash 4.50 

100 Scratch Feed......... .......... 



100 Scratch Feed. 

100 Scratch Feed- 

100 Scratch Feed. 

50 Mixed Meal. • 

100 Scratch Feed. 

100 Scratch Feed. 

100 Scratch Feed- 

100 Scratch Feed. 

100 Mash ........ 



2.00 
1.85 
2.00 
1.85 
.80 
1.85 
1.85 
2.00 
1.85 
1.35 



Total .1,200 



$23.53 



60 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



Date 

Decemb 



Weight in 
Pounds 



er 



1 

1 

3 

4 

6 

6 

9 

13 

13 

15 

30 

31 

31 



Variety Total 

100 Scratch Feed 2.00 

50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

100 Mash 2.25 



500. 

64. 

200. 

100. 
100. 
500- 
100. 



100 Mash 

64 2 bus 



Scratch Feed 9.00 

2 bus. Oats....................... 1.00 

Mash 273 

1 bale Straw. 45 

Grit 80 

Oyster Shells 80 

Scratch Feed. 9.00 

Yellow Turnips 1.65 

1.35 

Oats........ 1.00 



Total. .....1,978 



$33.66 



RECAPITULATION FOR 1913. 

Weight of Cost of Number of Value of 

Month Feed Purchased Feed Eggs Eggs 

January ...1,219 $23.06 805 $29.37 

February ................ 1,000 16.27 1,095 33.66 

March ................... 17,14 31.25 1,938 53.68 

April .................... 1,174 24.24 2,167 50.14 

May .................... 1,014 18.53 1,900 47.87 

June .................... 1,788 30.40 1,652 36.60 

j u l y 1,610 28.59 1,299 31.94 

\ugust M78 21.82 1,192 21.82 

September ............... 1,260 25.86 719 20.97 

October ................. 1,304 26.13 237 7.91 

November 1,200 23.53 668 26.53 

December ............... 1,978 33.66 1,057 43.47 

Totals ............... 16,439 $303.34 14,729 $403.96 

One hundred seventy-five eggs were sold for hatching for $11.50. 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



61 



MEAT SOLD IN 1913 



Months 
April 



May 

July 

August 



19. 
19. 
26. 
28. 
26. 
26. 
29- 
2. 



2 Hens 



. 6 
. 2 
.15 
. 1 



Roosters . 
Cockerels 



September 1 1 



October 



6. 
13. 
20- 
27. 

4. 
11. 
18. 
25. 



November 26 2 

December 28 3 Roosters • 



6 l / 2 pounds 

25^ " 



Totals 



. 7 

, . 26 

• 24^ 

• 3^ 
.. 22 

.. iy 2 

• 2/ 2 
. 10 

• sy 2 

■ - io^ 

. 12 

• 9^ 
. 7/ 2 

,. 3H 

. 334 

. 9 

• 14J4 

207^ 



18c 
18c 
17c 
17c 
15c 
22c 
21c 
24c 
20c 
20c 
20c 
20c 
20c 
14c 
15c 
15c 
16c 
12c 
10c 



$ 1.17 

4.59 

1.19 

4.42 

3.67 

.71 

4.62 

.36 

.50 

2.00 

1.70 

2.10 

2.40 

1,33 

1.13 

.56 

.60 

1.08 

1.43 

$35.56 



As stated before, the record of all the hens sold and the 
dates of same are not available, some data having become 
lost. These records were kept for private use, never thinking 
they would be needed for publication. 



Production Records for 1913 



the straw pur- 



As will be seen in the previous pages, 
chased has been included in the feed cost. 

All the oil purchased was not entered, as oil was used for 
other purposes and the account was not kept separate. 

The feed, in addition to raising the young stock up to 
laying age, was also fed to the cockerels until disposed of. 

If we accept the cost of eggs for hatching, the raising of 
young birds, and the keeping of cockerels until disposed of, as 
part of the necessary expense of egg production — which is 
offset in a more or less exact ratio by the proceeds of the sale 
of the old stock to replace which they are raised — we can see 
that it took 16,439 pounds of feed to produce 14,729 eggs, in 
the year 1913, by this flock. 

The tables show r n in this chapter give the daily egg pro- 



62 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

duction. The production of the older fowls is shown sepa- 
rately from that of the pullets from January 1st to April 21st. 
At this time the flocks had to be consolidated, to make room 
for day old chicks. The production is shown separately again 
each day from September 28th, when the pullets commenced 
laying, until the end of the year. 

The reader will note the following comparisons of the 
laying of the birds, in their pullet year, with the laying by the 
adult fowls, in the fall and winter months. 

Number of Eggs Number of Eggs 
1913 Laid by Pullets Laid by Hens 

January ................................. 588 217 

February ". 558 537 

October ................................. 130 107 

November 560 108 

December 810 247 

Total for five months 2,646 1,216 

There were over ninety birds among the adult fowls, and 
only an average of about fifty pullets. We can see by this 
comparison that the young birds have a decided natural 
advantage over the adult fowls, for fall and winter laying. 

For the period from January 1st to April 21st, the pullets 
of the previous year and the old birds compare as follows : 

1913 Pullets Hens 

January 588 217 

February • • • • 558 537 

March ..................................... 690 1,248 

April 1st to 21st. 466 1,096 

Totals for the period 2,302 3,098 

This comparison shows the old hens as being able to 
produce heavily, as soon as spring conditions arrive. This is 
true, even with the handicap they had in January, when the 
pullets had a lead of 369 eggs, and a slight handicap in Feb- 
ruary of 21 eggs. 

To recapitulate, we find as follows: 

Weight of feed, 16,439 pounds; cost of feed, $303.34; number of 
eggs, 14,729; value of eggs, $403.96; meat sold, $35.56. 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



63 



Allowing the meat sold to offset the feed used in raising 
the young stock, and the cost of eggs for hatching at prices 
for table eggs, we have a showing as an approximate cost of 
24.71c per dozen for feed for 1,227 5-12 dozen eggs; and we 
find that it took 13.39 pounds of feed to produce a dozen eggs. 



16 

/ios? //oc/se 

<*. 16 XIO 

s see £<?.Ft 



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<D*3 Sq.ft. 



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9 House 

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Diagram of Yards Used in These Experiments 

The eggs were sold at an average price of 32.91c per 
dozen, this price being 8.20c per dozen above the cost of feed. 

The reader is reminded that every item of feed for this 
flock had to be purchased, because there was no opportunity, 
at any time, for the birds to "pick up their living." They had 
in addition to the feed purchased, a few table leavings from 



64 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

a family of four, but these leavings do not count for much in 
a flock of this size. 

The average cost of feed was $1.85 per hundred pounds 
for the year. 

The space occupied consisted of yards and houses as 
shown in the accompanying diagram. Fowls had been kept 
continuously in these yards for eleven years, and the soil, 
being a black clay loam, which bakes easily, is not an ideal 
one for poultry keeping. 

EGG RECORD 

April May Tune 
Total Total Total 

67 62 65 

72 72 65 

75 63 55 

70 63 64 
72 64 58 
67 69 56 
78 71 60 

74 58 60 

75 55 54 

69 67 48 
82 57 66 

71 54 48 
78 67 52 
77 59 57 
81 S3 50 

70 63 50 

80 63 55 

81 53 52 







1913— 


-January- 




February 




March 






Day 




Total 




Total 




Total 




Hens 




6 




8 




37 




53 


Pits. 


1 


18 


24 


20 


28 


24 


61 


14 


Hens 




8 




17 




27 




51 


Pits. 


2 


18 


26 


21 


38 


21 


48 


21 


Hens 




6 




17 




25 




50 


Pits. 


3 


21 


27 


16 


33 


22 


47 


25 


Hens 




6 




14 




28 




51 


Pits. 


4 


17 


23 


17 


31 


19 


47 


19 


Hens 




7 




12 




25 




49 


Pits. 


5 


21 


28 


22 


34 


17 


42 


23 


Hens 




4 




14 




28 




46 


Pits. 


6 


18 


22 


14 


28 


23 


51 


21 


Hens 




8 




9 




26 




55 


Pits. 


7 


18 


26 


19 


28 


22 


48 


23 


Hens 




8 




16 




35 




57 


Pits. 


8 


19 


27 


16 


32 


19 


54 


17 


Hens 




7 




10 




26 




50 


Pits. 


9 


18 


25 


20 


30 


19 


45 


25 


Hens 




6 




13 




38 




48 


Pits. 


10 


15 


21 


18 


31 


25 


63 


21 


Hens 




5 




12 




29 




55 


Pits. 


11 


22 


27 


21 


33 


25 


54 


27 


Hens 




9 




18 




36 




53 


Pits. 


12 


19 


28 


20 


38 


21 


57 


18 


Hens 




4 




19 




33 




54 


Pits. 


13 


14 


18 


19 


38 


17 


50 


24 


Hens 




7 




13 




42 




49 


Pits. 


14 


20 


27 


19 


32 


24 


66 


28 


1 [ens 




5 




21 




37 




58 


Pits. 


15 


16 


21 


17 


38 


24 


61 


23 


Hens 




5 




19 




40 




47 


Pits. 


16 


15 


20 


22 


41 


22 


62 


23 


Hens 




7 




22 




39 




50 


Pits. 


17 


17 


24 


20 


42 


20 


59 


30 


Hens 




5 




18 




45 




60 


Pits. 


18 


19 


24 


22 


40 


24 


69 


21 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 65 







1913— 


-Tanuarj 




February 


March 




April 


May 


Tune 




Day 




Total 




Total 




Total 




Total 


Total 


Total 


Hens 




9 




23 




45 




59 








Pits. 


19 


24 


33 


23 


46 


25 


70 


23 


82 


80 


46 


Hens 




10 




21 




46 




51 








Pits. 


20 


12 


22 


21 


42 


25 


71 


21 


72 


53 


57 


Hens 




4 




31 




50 




50 








Pits 


21 


21 


25 


23 


54 


24 


74 


19 


69 


59 


46 


Hens 




6 




24 




42 













Pits. 


22 


22 


28 


21 


45 


18 


60 


1,096 


69 


67 


66 


Hens 




7 




25 




52 




466 








Pits. 


23 


14 


21 


24 


49 


24 


76 




68 


66 


47 


Hens 




7 




27 




46 












Pits. 


24 


22 


29 


16 


43 


20 


66 




83 


55 


57 


Hens 




7 




28 




52 












Pits. 


25 


22 


29 


23 


51 


26 


78 




70 


62 


50 


Hens 




8 




27 




56 












Pits. 


26 


23 


31 


22 


49 


21 


77 




63 


56 


51 


Hens 




5 




35 




56 












Pits. 


27 


22 


27 


23 


58 


20 


76 




67 


58 


50 


Hens 




10 




24 




50 












Pits. 


28 


23 


33 


19 


43 


26 


76 




69 


55 


50 


Hens 




10 








57 












Pits. 


29 


15 


25 






23 


80 




65 


66 


66 


Hens 




10 








47 












Pits. 


30 


22 


32 






27 


74 




51 


54 


51 


Hens 




11 








53 












Pits. 


31 
Hens 


21 
217 


32 


537 




23 
1,248 


76 






56 




Tot. ] 






Tot. 


Pits. 
1 Tot 


588 
al 




558 


1,095 


690 


1,938 




2,167 


1,900 




Granc 


805 


1,652 






1913- 


-July 


Aug. 


Sept. 




Oct. 




Nov. 




Dec. 






Day 


total 


Total 


Total 




Total 




Total 




Total 


Hens 












9 




4 




7 




Pits. 




1 


47 


41 


37 


1 


10 


8 


12 


36 


43 


Hens 












8 








12 




Pits. 




2 


51 


42 


31 




8 


6 


6 


27 


39 


Hens 












6 




2 




6 




Pits. 




3 


50 


45 


31 


1 


7 


9 


11 


35 


41 


Hens 












5 




2 




11 




Pits. 




4 


42 


41 


30 


1 


6 


10 


12 


32 


43 


Hens 












9 




2 




9 




Pits 




5 


34 


43 


30 




9 


10 


12 


29 


38 


Hens 












4 




2 




7 




Pits. 




6 


34 


50 


29 


1 


5 


6 


8 


28 


35 


Hens 












6 




1 




10 




Pits. 




7 


28 


47 


40 


1 


7 


12 


13 


28 


38 


Hens 












8 




3 




10 




Pits. 




8 


27 


44 


24 


1 


9 


10 


13 


30 


40 



66 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 





1913- 


-July 


Aug. 


Sept. 




Oct. 




Nov. 




Dec. 




Day 


Total 


Total 


Total 




Total 




Total 




Total 


Hens 










2 




1 




7 




Pits. 


9 


36 


43 


30 


1 


3 


12 


13 


28 


35 


Hens 










5 




1 




10 




Pits. 


10 


26 


41 


35 


3 


8 


12 


13 


25 


35 


Hens 










4 




3 




8 




Pits. 


11 


40 


38 


33 


4 


8 


9 


12 


31 


39 


Hens 










1 




2 




10 




Pits. 


12 


34 


37 


25 


1 


2 


10 


12 


27 


37 


Hens 










4 








6 




Pits. 


13 


36 


42 


36 


4 


8 


16 


16 


31 


37 


Hens 














2 




6 




Pits. 


14 


48 


37 


27 


3 


3 


18 


20 


32 


38 


Hens 










6 




1 




6 




Pits. 


15 


40 


31 


28 


5 


11 


14 


15 


26 


32 


Hens 










1 




3 




7 




Pits. 


16 


41 


37 


31 


4 


5 


20 


23 


24 


31 


Hens 










1 




2 




7 




Pits. 


17 


51 


38 


22 


4 


5 


19 


21 


29 


36 


Hens 










4 




3 




8 




Pits. 


18 


41 


38 


28 


6 


10 


21 


24 


26 


34 


Hens 










2 




2 




8 




Pits. 


19 


48 


39 


18 


5 


7 


23 


25 


28 


36 


Hens 










2 




4 




5 




Pits. 


20 


47 


33 


21 


7 


9 


24 


28 


32 


37 


Hens 










3 




5 




13 




Pits. 


21 


47 


44 


22 


6 


9 


22 


27 


21 


34 


Hens 










2 




2 




4 




Pits. 


22 


43 


38 


17 


8 


10 


28 


30 


31 


35 


Hens 










2 




10 




5 




Pits. 


23 


45 


33 


15 


6 


8 


22 


32 


29 


34 


Hens 










1 




3 




9 




Pits. 


24 


49 


33 


14 


8 


9 


25 


28 


26 


35 


Hens 










2 




cS 




8 




Pits. 


25 


47 


34 


13 


6 


8 


34 


42 


18 


26 


Hens 










3 




5 




7 




Pits. 


26 


40 


29 


10 


6 


9 


34 


39 


22 


29 


Hens 










1 




9 




6 




Pits. 


27 


48 


39 


11 


8 


9 


30 


39 


18 


24 


Hens 








13 


3 




( ) 




6 




Pits. 


28 


44 


31 


1 14 


7 


10 


30 


39 


23 


29 


Hens 








8 






9 




6 




Pits. 


29 


45 


38 


8 


8 


8 


30 


39 


13 


19 


Hens 








8 


3 




8 




8 




Pits. 


30 


46 


32 


1 9 


7 


10 


36 


44 


15 


23 


Hens 


















15 




Pits. 


31 


44 


34 




7 


_7 






10 


25 


Tot. Hens 








~717 


107 




"l08 




247 




Tot. Pits. 








2 


130 




560 




810 





Grand Total 1,299 1,192 719 



237 



668 



1,057 



PART II 

The Revolution and Its Results 



chapter v 
Basic Theories 

"Whys? and Wherefores!" 

The writer, in his experience of twelve years of keeping 
poultry on the same piece of ground, in addition to his pre- 
vious experience elsewhere, had reasons to ask a good many 
"whys," and has concluded that, as a result of asking the 
"whys" he now is in a position to write "wherefores" to some 
of these "whys." 

Observing that he always got some winter eggs when 
many others, and among them some neighbors in close prox- 
imity, failed to get them, the question arose "why?" Their 
flocks looked well, but did not produce — the "wherefore" of 
this "why" was found in the fact that the other flocks were 
not fed sufficiently to sustain themselves, and at the same 
time produce eggs. Their outlay for feed was a dead expense ; 
whereas, if they had increased the quantity of feed they would, 
in all probability, have had this expense returned to them, 
plus a small profit. 

Observing, in caring for his flock late at night in the 
winter time, after the birds had been on the roost some hours, 
that the lantern light brought the birds off the roosts to at- 
tempt feeding; and that he had, on many occasions, to turn 
down the lantern light to a minimum, before he could get the 
birds back on the roost, the question "why" naturally arose, 
and to "Ask the birds, their judgment is good." 

Observing that when placing feed in the feed box for 
cockerels (which having been separated from the pullets, 
were fed in a separate pen) late at night by lantern light, they 
immediately got down off the roost to eat out of the box, the 

67 



68 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

question "why" came up, and the answering "wherefore" was 
that they must be hungry, but had to wait for a light before 
they could see to eat. 

Observing, that when placing feed in the same manner 
for these cockerels on bright moonlight nights, when no light 
was carried, he often found the cockerels at ten p. m. or 
later eating out of the box in the moonlight — he decided that 
the "wherefore" to this "why" must be found in the fact that, 
while fowls could not see to find and pick up food in the 
dark, or by moonlight if scattered around in litter, they had 
sense enough to know that there was feed in the box which 
they could pick up without having to hunt, or look for it. 

Limited Fuel Boxes 

The author is endeavoring, in writing this book, to take 
the reader through something like the same process of rea- 
soning whereby he arrived at his conclusions, and the causes 
which induced him to carry on further experiments. 

If we wish to heat a large house or building, we invaria- 
bly either study the question ourselves, or have experts study 
it for us, in order that the fuel boxes of our heating plant 
shall be adequate to meet all possible requirements, under the 
conditions we expect to meet, in the way of temperature 
variations. On top of these possible or probable require- 
ments, we make provision with a surplus space in the fuel 
boxes, to care for any possible emergencies, defects, or leak- 
ages, in order that our heating plant may be at all times 
adequate. 

Now let us take a hen's crop and make a little study of 
it in this light. Instance : a hen in a wild state, or in the 
semi-wild state, in which they are expected to produce eggs 
on the farms in the United States, we find that such a hen 
picks up an item here and an item there — in fact is contin- 
ually at it, picking up, or searching for opportunities for 
picking up things. The bulk of the eggs produced in this 
country arc produced on farms, according to statistical rec- 
ords, and farm conditions are mostly such as are now being 
described. 

The hens on farms have their liberty, and in spring and 
early summer are able to pick up a good living, and produce 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 69 

a comparatively heavy crop of eggs at this season ; their fuel 
boxes are adequate for the variations in temperatures and 
other drains on their vitality, which they must cope with at 
this season. 

Later in the season, that is in late summer and early fall, 
the fuel boxes are still adequate; but the supply of fuel has 
fallen off, and the hens have to wear themselves out in their 
efforts to obtain enough to eat to sustain themselves and 
produce. 

In the fall and winter the fuel supply is scarce indeed. 
The fowls are now mostly limited to what they can pick up 
indoors or around the barns ; and generally farmers kindly 
throw r them a few handfuls of corn, or other grain, at intervals 
more or less frequent, if they happen to think of it. 

As a result of these conditions winter eggs on farms are, 
as a general thing, an impossibility. 

The poultryman takes better care of his flocks, and for 
a great number of years has been endeavoring to supply all 
the fuel the fuel boxes could take care of — that is, he has 
been trying to similate spring and early summer conditions. 
He has, generally speaking, however, failed to realize that he 
was not keeping up the right amount of steam for efficient 
work — that he was not feeding his fuel boxes to their capacity. 

The author's experience, however, was not of this nature. 
He came to the conclusion, some years ago, that a hen's fuel 
box must be taxed to the limit by crowding in fuel, and that 
of the best quality, to produce eggs in winter — and he acted 
on his conclusions with fairly satisfactory results. 

Having done all he could to provide satisfactory environ- 
ments for his flock, and having a flock which, by heredity, 
were good layers, and layers of winter eggs, he was still 
blocked in his efforts ; so he came to the conclusion that the 
hen's fuel boxes were too small for their other possibilities 
of producing eggs, at all seasons of the year, under natural 
environments or conditions. 

The Year Book of the Department of Agriculture for 
1910, page 462, shows the importance and the need of "A 
Revolution in Egg Production." "Such climatic conditions 
as prevail during March and April in the Central States, both 
East and West, are ideal for egg production and egg market- 
ing. Hence, it is only necessary to know the climate of a 



70 A REVOLUTION- IN EGG PRODUCTION 

region in order to know when the egg supply is greatest and 
best. If one considers the number of months each year when 
climatic conditions preclude egg production almost entirely 
over the whole of our great egg producing territory, it is plain 
that some provision for these months of scarcity must be 
made from the season of plenty if eggs are to appear the year 
round on the tables of any except wealthy people. The devel- 
opment of the resources of Kentucky and Tennessee will help 
to ease the demand of the Eastern markets for "best fresh" 
eggs during the winter months, but it can never satisfy the 
general demand any more than the Northern belt, as repre- 
sented by Michigan and Minnesota, can keep all supplied 
during the heat of midsummer. Therefore, we must continue 
to study, and work for, and urge, increased egg production 
wherever the little feathered lady can manage to eke out a 
living by dint of hard scratching, be it North, South, East or 
West. And we must remember, too, that every new laid egg 
is fresh, sweet, nutritious food. ***** The j ien j ias 
kept pace with her breed and her environment, and almost 
invariably, even under the worst conditions, she has given 
her owner more than she receives. " 

Value of Light 

;Ve have stated, in our preface, that heredity and environ- 
ment are two big factors in egg production. 

Heredity is the sum of the effects of the environments of 
past generations, and this part of the subject is too compre- 
hensive to take up in this little work. 

We should, however, profit by the laws of heredity suf- 
ficiently to produce, or purchase, our foundation stock from 
sources which are known to have produced the kind of stock 
we desire. 

We purchase farm stock, of other kinds, on this basis 
and theory that like begets like; and why should we not do 
the same with poultry? 

A flock, produced from the eggs of stock of good laying 
quality, will almost surely produce heavier, under like condi- 
tions than flocks produced from eggs of indifferent layers. 

Taking this position for granted, however, the second 
factor in production, namely, environment, will have more 
effect on laying qualities than heredity. 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 71 

Flocks may be found which are excellent layers, and 
other flocks which are very poor layers, in cases where both 
kinds of flocks are produced from eggs obtained from the 
same source, and under identical conditions. 

Nothing in the world but the effect of environment can 
account for such cases. It all depends on "the man behind 
the gun." One man hits the bull's eye — the other shoots wide 
of the mark, in providing environment. 

In other words, we must supply such environments as 
will enable the stock to back up their reputation, and prove 
out on their heredity. 

This little book, up to this point, has been dealing mostly 
with this second factor, of environment. The book, however, 
would never have been attempted, except as a result of a 
study of the third factor mentioned in the preface, which is 
"the length of the hen's business day." 

The author had noticed for several years that, irrespec- 
tive of extreme temperatures, the egg yield fell off in late 
fall and winter as the days got shorter, and that this falling 
off occurred even faster during cloudy and dark seasons, 
which were comparatively mild, than during bright sunshiny 
seasons of colder temperatures. 

This condition was so obvious that the author decided 
that he would, at some time, experiment with an artificial day. 

A Hen's Business Day 

On June 21st, in the latitude of Chicago and Boston, the 
sun rises at about four twenty-three a. m. and sets at about 
seven forty p. m., making a day of fifteen hours and seventeen 
minutes; and in the same latitude, on December 21st, the sun 
rises about seven twenty-six a. m. and sets about four thirty- 
one p. m., making a day of nine hours and five minutes. This 
is a difference in the length of a hen's business day of six 
hours and twelve minutes. 

This variation in the length of a hen's business day only 
tells a part of the story. The days in summer are nearly 
always light enough for the hens to transact business for their 
whole length ; but many of the short days of winter will be 
so dark and dreary as to restrict the hens to a business day 
of seven hours or less. 



72 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

This is a serious proposition, if we look at it from the 
viewpoint of the hens' capacity for factory production in the 
output of eggs. If we were running a factory, with men as 
the producers, we would at once equalize these conditions 
by artificial light, so as to make a uniform or nearly uniform 
day throughout the year. 

With human factors, however, actual production ceases 
at the business hours, but, with the hens production goes on 
after business hours, but is not delivered, except in rare cases 
when they lay on the roost, until the following day. 

In the short days of winter the fuel boxes get empty and 
the steam runs down. It takes more steam to keep going in 
December than in June ; but, up to the present time, we have 
not taken means to provide this extra steam. The business 
day is restricted, the fuel boxes get empty, steam runs down, 
and we have to start new fires every morning; whereas, we 
should bank the fires ready for an early steam pressure the 
following day. 

This is about how the author of this little work figured 
out the proposition, and decided that sometime, in the unde- 
termined future he would try artificial light, to make a 
longer day, as a solution of the problem of satisfactory tgg 
production. 

The days in the winter 1913-1914 proved so dark and 
dreary that he decided to make an immediate start ; and on 
January 21st, 1914, electric lights were installed in the poultry 
houses. We decided to "Ask the birds, their judgment is 
good." 



CHAPTER VI 

Remarkable Results 

The Problem Solved. 

The installation of the electric light in two poultry houses, 
which included the wiring, and the moving of the meter from 
the second story of the house to the basement, cost thirty 
dollars. Two sockets were placed in each poultry house, one 
socket in each house being used for a single lamp, and the 
other one being provided with a Benjamin socket. 

In the Benjamin socket, in each house, an eight candle 
power incandescent lamp was placed on one side and a sixty 
candle power Tungsten lamp was installed on the other side, 
and in the other socket another sixty candle power Tungsten 
lamp. 

The reason for providing Benjamin sockets was, that we 
wanted the small light to remain burning, to simulate dusk, 
while the fowls were going to roost, after turning down the 
larger lights. 

Double wiring, so as to have the smaller lamps on a 
separate circuit and switch, would prove more convenient, 
as it would enable us to turn the larger lights out, and leave 
the smaller lights on, without having to go to the poultry 
houses. 

For the purposes of this experiment, it was thought too 
expensive to put in double wiring, so we unscrewed the larger 
light in the Benjamin socket, and turned the other light out, 
leaving the smaller or eight candle power lamp burning until 
the fowls had all gone to roost. We then turned off the 
switch in the house, screwed up the loosened lamp in each 
Benjamin socket, and turned the other individual lamp switches 
on — thus leaving the lights already set for an early morning 
light, by turning the switch in the house at any time desired. 

"We found that the eight candle power lamp was too good 
a light to leave for the fowls to go to roost. We went visiting 
one evening, and left the smaller lights going, and when we 

73 



74 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



came home at eleven p. m. found the birds as busy as at 
noonday. 

We, therefore, substituted two candle power lamps for 
the smaller lights, and got over this difficulty. 

At the time we turned on the electric light, we had re- 
ceived for that day and eleven days previous eleven, nineteen, 
eighteen, seventeen, eighteen, thirteen, seventeen, twenty-six, 
twenty-one, twenty-one, twenty-one, and twenty-six eggs re- 
spectively, a total of two hundred twenty-eight eggs in twelve 
days ; and in the twelve days after turning on the light we 
received eggs as follows : Twenty-two, twenty-nine, twenty- 
nine, thirty-four, thirty-seven, forty-three, forty-six, fifty-four, 
forty-six, sixty-one, seventy-three, and on February 2nd 
eigthy-three, a total of five hundred fifty-seven for twelve 
days ; which is over double the number of eggs for the twelve 
days immediately preceding. 

The other conditions remained the same. The hens had 
plenty of feed and water, always available, before them, if the 
light was strong enough to see to get it. By merely lengthen- 
ing the hen's business day we doubled the output in twelve 
days. We must also make allowance, for anyhow three or 
four days, while the fuel boxes were enabling the hens to re- 
plenish their bodily conditions. 

We now use the same candle power in the larger house 
as when the light was first installed ; but we use only one 
Tungsten lamp, of one hundred candle power, in the smaller 
house in one socket, and the small two candle power lamp in 
the other socket. 

A reference to the laying record on Page 82 will show 
1,943 eggs laid in twenty-eight days of February, an average 
of 69.39 eggs per day. There were 160 members of the flock 
for 13 days, 160X13=2,080 single hen days, and 159 members 
for the other IS days, 159X15=2,385 single hen days, making 
4,465 total single hen days; and this divided into the number 
of eggs — 1,943 — gives an actual average percentage of 43.52 
per cent of an egg a day for each member of the flock. 

This month of February was extremely cold with us — on 
five days the temperature reading touched from one to nine 
below zero Fahrenheit, and twelve days showed a maximum 
temperature during the day of twenty-five degrees, and less, 
Fahrenheit on a registering thermometer. 



. 






A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 75 

On ten days at seven a. m. the temperature registered 
less than five degrees above zero. 

The reader can imagine that we felt elated at the result 
of our experiment, and the solving of the problem of winter 
e §'g production. 

Given proper care, a balanced ration, liberal and regular 
supply of feed, and we had added only one factor of summer 
conditions, and that a factor heretofore not considered — we 
had merely lengthened the hens' business day to enable them 
to eat sufficient food to repair bodily waste, supply heat and 
energy, and leave a surplus for the production of eggs ; and 
presto ! we gathered one thousand nine hundred forty-three 
eggs in a February of extremely low temperature, as compared 
with one thousand ninety-five eggs for the previous February 
when the thermometer only touched zero twice, and that only 
for a short time. While we had some cold nights in the 
February of 1913, it warmed up in the day time as compared 
with February, 1914. 

The birds continued to produce well, as will be seen by 
the production records on Page 83 ; and a comparison will 
prove interesting with the production record on Page 64 
for 1913. 

In due course arrived the moulting season. Few poultry - 
men expect many eggs at this season, and farm kept poultry 
seldom, if ever, produce at this season. Many poultrymen, 
and some poultry papers, maintain that hens cannot moult 
and lay at the same time. 

It will be noticed in the production records on Page 84 
that production steadily decreased ; and, in discussing this 
problem with a friend, the author made the following state- 
ment of his position : "The birds had been doing well all 
summer, and were now moulting heavily, and were under- 
going the greatest strain on their vitality ; that the days were 
also shorter considerably than they had been — hence the hens 
had less opportunity to repair waste and energy and grow 
feathers ; that he believed turning on the light, and lengthen- 
ing the day at this time, would help the hens recuperate and 
get through the moult quicker. Also, that if they did this, 
they would probably produce during the coming winter as 
well as the pullets, under the improved conditions of the 
longer business day." 



76 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

The light was turned on, on the 21st of August. The 
family at this time was away in Michigan, and did not return 
until September 5th. On this account the daily mash had 
been fed to the hens in early morning; but, after turning on 
the light, this procedure was changed, and it was fed at 
seven thirty p. m. after arriving home from business. 

The five days previous to and including August 21st 
produced an output of eighty-nine eggs, and the five days 
thereafter produced seventy-seven eggs ; and from there on 
the birds started in to produce again, and produced one thou- 
sand one hundred seventy-three eggs in September as against 
seven hundred nineteen for the September previous ; and pro- 
duced one thousand five hundred twenty eggs in October as 
against two hundred thirty-seven eggs in October, 1913 — this 
in the face of the fact that in August, 1914, we received only 
eight hundred sixty-six eggs as against one thousand one hun- 
dred ninety-two eggs in August, 1913. 

We had once more acted on the suggestion to "Ask the 
birds, their judgment is good." 

We received eggs which will compare as follows : 

Winter of 1913-1914 Winter of 1914-1915 

Month Hens Pullets Month Hens Pullets 

September 717 2 September 1,156 17 

October 107 130 October 1,191 329 

November 108 560 November 822 421 

December 247 810 December 556 651 

January 191 586 January 789 694 

Totals 1,370 2,088 Totals 4,514 2,112 

There were about the same number of hens, at this period, 
in each year; but there were less pullets in 1914 so that both 
the hens and the pullets profited in production by the longer 
days. 

As stated before, the pullets always did fairly well in the 
winter season. 

In January, 1914, when the lights were first installed, they 
were turned on from about six a. m. until seven or seven 
thirty a. m. — depending upon whether the morning was dark 
or bright, and were turned on at dusk until about seven thirty 
p. m. On February 28th, 1914, the whole family were in 
Chicago, so the lights were left going, and when we arrived 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 77 

home at eleven fifty-five p. m. the egg factory was still going 
full blast. 

The winter of 1914-15 the lights had been turned on at 
about the same time in the morning; but had been left going 
until nine to nine fifteen p. m. before turning out the larger 
lights, in order to get the fowls on the roosts. 

It is comical, when turning out the lights this late, to 
notice several of the birds get busy picking up grain by the 
two candle power light, after a sudden reduction from one 
hundred two and one hundred twenty-two candle power lights 
respectively in each poultry house. 

Production Records for 1914-1915 

Following are the production records for the year 1914 
and the start of 1915. First, a table showing the items of feed 
purchased by months, and then the eggs produced for each 
day, and in monthly columns, with the pullet production 
separated from that of the hens ; and then a table showing 
the total eggs produced each month and their value. 

It will be seen that as a summary we have for 1914: 

Weight of feed, 16,685 pounds; cost of feed, $333.24; number of 
eggs, 18,332; value of eggs, $560.06; meat sold, $49.56. 

If we allow the meat sold to offset the feed used in rais- 
ing the young stock, and the cost of keeping the cockerels until 
disposed of, together with cost of eggs for hatching, at mar- 
ket price for table eggs, we have a showing, as a rough deduc- 
tion, of a cost for feed of 21.81c per dozen for 1,527 8-12 dozen 
eggs ; and that it took 10.92 pounds of feed to produce a dozen 
eggs. 

The same houses and yard were used as in the previous 
year. 

The eggs were sold at an average price of 36.66c per 
dozen, this being 14.85c per dozen above the cost of feed. 

The average cost of feed per hundred pounds in 1914 was 
$2.00. 

The following summary will serve to make an easy com- 
parison for the two years : 



78 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

1913 — Quantity of feed, 16,439; average cost per 100 pounds, $1,85; 
cost of leal, $303.34; number of eggs, 14,7_ >( >. 

1914— Quantity of feed, 16,685; average cost per 100 pounds, $2.00; 
cost oi* feed, $333.24; number of eggs, 18,332, 

_ 1913— Value of eggs, $403.96; number of dozens, 1,227 5-12; pounds 

of feed per dozen eggs, 13.39; cost of feed per dozen eggs, 24.71c. 

1914— Value of eggs, $560.06; number of dozens, 1,5278-12; pounds 
of feed per dozen eggs, 10,92; cost of feed per dozen eggs, 21. Sic. 

1913 — Average price per dozen eggs, $32.91 c; selling prive above 

iced cost, S.20c; meat sold, $35.56. 

1 ( M4 — Average price per dozen eggs, 36.66c; selling price above 
feed cost, 14.85c; meat sold, $49.56. 

Excess Figures 1914 Over 1913. 
Pounds of feed, 246; cost of feed, $29.90; number of eggs, 3,603; 
value of eggs, $156.10. 

Tl will l)c seen from the foregoing, that, for 246 pounds 
of feed wo received 3,603 eggs, which, figured at the same 
price of 32.91c per dozen as in 1913, figures up to $98.81. 

This result is an offset to the cost of this 24() pounds of iced, 
at 1913 prices, of $4.55, plus the cost of electricity. 

The cost of the extra light current consumed must, of 
course, be taken into account, The author has no means oi 
arriving exactly at this cost, as the current for residence use 
and poultry houses went through the same meter. The total 
hills for current for the year 1913, however, were $34.75, and 
i^v the year 1914 $4 C U1, showing an excess of $14.36 for the 
year. 

We used an electric iron for doing the domestic ironing 
in 1 ( M4, which consumed considerable current. As near as 
can be judged, therefore, the excess bill, for poultry houses, 
was about $12.00. 

The light hills would have been considerably higher were 
it not for the fact that we came in on a lower rate, for excess 
current. These figures are for practically eleven months, as 
the electric light was not used until January _Mst, 1 () 14. 

There were other items of expense which would only 
figure up to a very few dollars, outside oi the expense for egg 
cartons which came to about $12.00. The comparison be- 
tween the two years would not be affected by these items. 

This experiment being a hobby, to which only spare time 
was devoted, no labor can be charged up — although this item 
would have t<> figure in a business plant. On this point the 
author is oi the conviction that, with the labor saving con- 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 79 

veniences and devices, suggested in another chapter, ten times 
as many birds could be well cared for with not more than one 

hour's time per clay additional to that given to the care of 
this flock. 

FEED PURCHASED IN THE YEAR 1914. 

Weight in 
Date Pounds Variety Total 

January 10 500 Scratch Feed. /$ 9.00 

50 Beef Scrap....................... 1.63 

100 Scratch Feed. ................... . 1.85 

15 100 Cabbage ......................... 3.00 

26 64 2 bus. Oats. 96 

194 Mash 2.63 

31 100 Scratch Feed- .................... 1.85 



Total ...1,108 $20.92 

February 2 500 Scratch Feed... .............. 9.00 

100 Mash 2.25 

50 Beef Scraps...................... 1.63 

6 200 Yellow Turnips 3.00 

9 50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

16 500 Scratch Feed 9.00 

100 Mash 2.25 

17 Bale of Straw 40 

64 2 bus. Oats 96 

20 100 1 bbl. Cabbage 4.00 



Total ...1,664 $34.12 

March 2 100 Scratch Feed 1.85 

500 Scratch Feed. 8.90 

100 Mash 2.25 

100 Oyster Shells .80 

100 Charcoal 2.25 

5 50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

9 300 Scratch Feed 5.34 

100 Mash 2.25 

12 100 Yellow Turnips 2.18 

17 100 Mash 2.25 

17 192 6 bus. Oats 2.88 

100 Scratch Feed 1.85 

25 500 Scratch Feed 9.00 

25 25 Beef Scraps .88 

30 200 Mash 4.50 



Total ...2,567 $48.81 



80 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

Weight in 

Date Pounds Variety Total 

April 2 50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

7 500 Scratch Feed 9.00 

100 Mash 2.25 

21 500 Scratch Feed 9.00 

50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

23 100 Yellow Turnips 1.50 

25 100 Mash 2.25 



Total ...1,400 $27.26 

May 1 1 bale Straw $ .35 

100 Chick Feed 2.50 

100 Fine Grit 80 

100 Oyster Shells .80 

7 100 Mash 2.25 

19 100 Mash 2.25 

100 Scratch Feed 1.85 

20 128 4 bus. Oats 2.30 

25 100 Scratch Feed 1.85 



Total .....828 $14.95 

June 1 200 Scratch Feed 3.70 

50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

100 Mash 2.25 

10 100 Chick Feed 2.25 

13 100 Scratch Feed 1.85 

20 100 Scratch Feed 1.85 

25 100 Scratch Feed 1.85 

26 50 Mash 1.13 



Total ... 800 $16.51 

Inly 1 50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

500 Scratch Feed 9.00 

100 Mash 2.25 

9 128 4 bus. Oats 2.00 

10 100 Mash 2.25 

100 Grit. .80 

18 100 Mash 2.25 

50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

24 100 Scratch Feed 1.85 

28 100 Scratch Feed 1.85 



Total ...1,328 $25.51 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 81 

Weight in 

Date Pounds Variety Total 

\ugtist 1 500 Scratch Feed 9.00 

100 Mash 2.25 

50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

13 100 Mash 2.25 

20 64 2 bus. Oats 96 

50 Mixed Meal .85 

22 100 Scratch Feed 2.39 

25 100 Scratch Feed 2.39 

27 100 Mash 2.25 



Total ...1,164 $23.97 



September 2 200 Scratch Feed $ 4.20 

50 Mixed Meal .88 

3 100 Oyster Shells 80 

50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

100 Mash 2.50 

9 200 Scratch Feed : 4.20 

16 500 Scratch Feed 10.50 

50 Mixed Meal .88 

21 25 Beef Scraps 83 

25 100 Yellow Turnips 1.50 

26 50 Mixed Meal 88 

64 2 bus. Oats 1.10 

28 100 Mash 2.50 



Total ...1,589 $32.40 



October 1 50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

100 Scratch Feed 2.10 

5 50 Alfalfa Meal 2.00 

10 100 Mixed Meal 1.94 

12 200 Scratch Feed 4.30 

14 100 Scratch Feed 2.10 

50 ...Beef Scraps 1.63 

17 100 Mash 2.50 

22 200 Scratch Feed 4.20 

24 128 4 bus. Oats... 2.12 

50 Mixed Meal 95 

28 100 Scratch Feed 2.10 

29 25 Beef Scraps .88 

50 Mash 1.25 

10 Beef Scraps -40 



Total ...1,313 $30.10 



82 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

Weight in 
Date Pounds Variety Total 

November 2 100 Mash $ 2.50 

50 Beef Scraps 1.63 

100 Grit 78 

100 Crate of Cabbage 1.50 

200 Scratch Feed 4.10 

9 100 Scratch Feed 2.10 

11 100 Scratch Feed 2.10 

100 Mash 2.50 

16 50 Mash 1.25 

20 60 1 bbl. Bread 75 

50 Beef Scraps 1-63 

23 200 Scratch Feed 4.20 

100 1 bbl. Cabbage 1.35 

25 50 Mash 1.25 

4 Plucks 12 



Total 




..1,364 
















$27.76 


December 


1 




500.... 




• Scratch Feed 










£10.00 


" 






50.... 




• Mash 












1.25 


" 


7 




50.... 




.Beef 


Scraps. 










1.63 


« 


8 




100-... 
100.-.. 




• Mash 

• Oyste 


r Shells 










2.50 

.80 


« 


9 




100.... 




.1 bbl- 


Cabbag 


e- • • 








1.75 


" 


12 




60-... 




.1 bbl. 


Bread. 










.75 


" 


14 




500-... 




• Scratc 


h Feed 










10.00 


tt 


17 


100.... 
-.1,560 




• Mash 












2.25 


Total 


$30.93 










EGG REC JV- 














1914- 


—January 




February 


]\ 


'arch 




April 


May 


Tune 


Day 






Total 




Total 


Total 




Total 


Total 


Total 


Hens 




5 




24 




20 




44 








Pits. 1 




14 


19 


49 


73 


43 


63 


38 


82 


67 


69 


Hens 




6 




40 




21 




35 








Pits. 2 




3 


Q 


43 


83 


35 


56 


34 


69 


62 


58 


Hens 




5 




30 




26 




66 








Pits. 3 




13 


18 


41 


71 


46 


71 


42 


10S 


56 


58 


Hens 




3 




31 




24 




44 








Pits. 4 




13 


16 


53 


84 


37 


61 


38 


82 


54 


55 


Hens 




6 




38 




29 




38 








Pits. 5 




12 


18 


47 


85 


37 


66 


39 


// 


54 


58 


Hen. 




3 




34 




22 




46 








Pits. 6 




13 


16 


36 


70 


40 


62 


28 


74 


62 


60 


Hen. 




9 




50 




19 




56 








Pits. 7 




11 


20 


36 




40 


59 


40 


96 


53 


57 


Hens 




? 




27 




33 




30 








Pits. 8 




13 


IS 


44 


71 


49 


82 


37 


67 


54 


56 


Hen. 




4 




28 




23 




33 








Pits. 9 




13 


17 


42 


70 


42 


65 


37 


70 


53 


60 


Urn. 




1 




33 




26 




44 








Pits- 10 




10 


11 


42 


75 


37 


63 


41 


85 


79 


63 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 83 





1914— 


-January 


Februai 


T 


March 




April 


May 


Tune 


Day 




* Total 




Total 




Total 




Total 


Total 


Total 


Hens 


7 




26 




20 




34 








Pits. 11 


12 


19 


50 


76 


41 


61 


24 


58 


53 


54 


Hens 


5 




27 




20 




55 








Pits. 12 


13 


18 


37 


64 


39 


59 


48 


103 


58 


58 


Hens 


4 




25 




22 




48 








Pits. 13 


13 


17 


41 


66 


42 


64 


37 


85 


55 


48 


Hens 


4 




28 




22 




40 








Pits. 14 


14 


18 


42 


70 


39 


61 


32 


72 


62 


74 


Hens 


3 




22 




28 




36 








Pits. 15 


10 


13 


42 


64 


40 


68 


41 


77 


59 


57 


Hens 


4 




21 




23 




48 








Pits. 16 


13 


17 


43 


64 


39 


62 


39 


87 


53 


56 


Hens 


7 




27 




34 




42 








Pits. 17 


19 


26 


43 


70 


41 


75 


37 


79 


68 


55 


Pi ens 


2 




43 




33 




45 








Pits. 18 


19 


21 


18 


61 


39 


72 


39 


84 


56 


52 


Hens 


5 




41 




41 




46 








Pits. 19 


16 


21 


32 


73 


41 


82 


40 


86 


52 


44 


Hens 


2 




20 




42 




44 








Pits. 20 


19 


21 


44 


64 


38 


80 


37 


81 


61 


48 


Hens 


6 




21 




41 




40 








Pits *21 


20 


26 


48 


69 


41 


82 


40 


80 


54 


51 


Hens 


2 




25 




50 




28 








Pits. 22 


20 


22 


47 


72 


40 


90 


44 


72 


55 


46 


Hens 


7 




22 




53 




42 








Pits- 23 


22 


29 


39 


61 


31 


84 


40 


82 


74 


51 


Hens 


7 




20 




43 




41 








Pits. 24 


22 


29 


40 


60 


48 


91 


40 


81 


66 


58 


Hens 


10 




28 




51 




28 








Pits. 25 


24 


34 


40 


68 


37 


88 


35 


63 


61 


55 


Hens 


9 




21 




43 




43 








Pits. 26 


28 


37 


41 


62 


49 


92 


46 


89 


69 


49 


Hens 


9 




19 




46 




43 








Pits. 21 


34 


43 


40 


59 


41 


87 


42 


85 


66 


56 


Hens 


10 




14 




38 












Pits. 28 


36 


46 


38 


52 


39 


77 


1,139 


68 


65 


59 


Hens 


16 








42 




1,035 








Pits. 29 


38 


54 






46 


88 




67 


60 


44 


Hens 


8 








44 












Pits. 30 


38 


46 






43 


87 




60 


66 


41 


Hens 


20 








41 












Pits. 31 


41 


61 






38 


79 






51 




Tot. Hens 


191 




785 




1,020 












Tot. Pits. 


586 




1,158 




1,258 













Grand Total 777 1,943 2,278 2,369 1,858 1,650 

*Electric light turned on this date. 



84 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 





1914- 


-July 


Aug. 


September 




October 




November 


December 




Day 


Total 


Total 


Total 




Total 




Total 




Total 


Hens 










38 




32 




19 




Pits. 


1 


57 


37 


28 


6 


44 


15 


47 


19 


38 


Hens 










40 




34 




20 




Pits 


2 


44 


39 


28 


1 


41 


14 


48 


20 


40 


Hens 










40 




31 




15 




Pits- 


3 


53 


44 


34 


5 


45 


14 


45 


29 


44 


Hens 










35 




34 




22 




Pits. 


4 


36 


30 


39 


5 


40 


16 


50 


22 


44 


Hens 










42 




37 




26 




Pits. 


5 


54 


40 


36 


7 


49 


14 


51 


19 


45 


Hens 










48 




28 




29 




Pits. 


6 


36 


40 


45 


7 


55 


12 


40 


17 


46 


Hens 










42 




40 




15 




Pits. 


7 


49 


34 


32 


5 


47 


18 


58 


23 


38 


Hens 










44 




38 




16 




Pits. 


8 


50 


36 


41 


6 


50 


12 


50 


30 


46 


Hens 










34 




33 




20 




Pits. 


9 


40 


41 


41 


11 


45 


15 


48 


25 


45 


Hens 










48 




21 




15 




Pits. 


10 


52 


33 


37 


4 


52 


19 


40 


24 


39 


Hens 










38 




37 




19 




Pits. 


11 


45 


45 


28 


11 


49 


15 


52 


26 


45 


Hens 










48 




30 




19 




Pits. 


12 


52 


29 


53 


10 


58 


12 


42 


26 


45 


Hens 










37 




31 




18 




Pits. 


13 


52 


45 


40 


11 


48 


18 


49 


22 


40 


Hens 










38 




36 




15 




Pits. 


14 


47 


27 


33 


5 


43 


12 


48 


29 


44 


Hens 










41 




35 




14 




Pits. 


15 


48 


33 


30 


16 


57 


12 


47 


20 


34 


Hens 










44 




32 




14 




Pits. 


16 


61 


29 


42 


10 


54 


12 


44 


20 


34 


Hens 










34 




37 




17 




Pits. 


17 


50 


24 


40 


11 


45 


11 


48 


22 


39 


Hens 










35 




26 




17 




Pits. 


18 


53 


23 


43 


10 


45 


14 


40 


20 


37 


Hens 










39 




31 




16 




Pits. 


19 


54 


17 


42 


12 


51 


16 


47 


17 


33 


Hens 










29 




23 




16 




Pits. 


20 


45 


14 


36 


15 


44 


10 


33 


2C 


36 


Hens 










38 




18 




21 




Pits- 


21 


56 


11* 


42 


13 


51 


14 


32 


13 


34 


Hens 










41 




18 




18 




Pits. 


22 


57 


13 


36 


13 


54 


12 


30 


17 


35 


Hens 








44 


28 




25 




12 




Pits. 


23 


39 


17 


1 45 


17 


45 


11 


36 


21 


33 


Hens 








42 


44 




17 




10 




Pits. 


24 


39 


12 


42 


16 


60 


10 


27 


21 


40 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



85 



1914- 


-July 


Aug. 


i 


Septemb 


er 


October 




November December 


Day 


Total 


Total 




Total 




Total 




Total 


Total 


Hens 






42 




36 




22 


15 




Pits. 25 


39 


19 


3 


45 


17 


53 


16 


38 14 


29 


Hens 






40 




39 




13 


16 




Pits. 26 


29 


16 


2 


42 


10 


49 


13 


26 21 


37 


Hens 






44 




30 




17 


15 




Pits. 27 


36 


18 


2 


46 


19 


49 


16 


33 18 


33 


Hens 






40 




35 




16 


19 




Pits. 28 


55 


24 


3 


43 


17 


52 


15 


31 19 


38 


Hens 






40 




30 




17 


17 




Pits. 29 


36 


23 


3 


43 


13 


43 


11 


28 20 


37 


Hens 






38 




42 




13 


21 




Pits. 30 


50 


26 


3 


41 


11 


53 


22 


35 18 


Z9 


Hens 










34 






21 




Pits- 31 


34 


27 


1,156 




15 
1,191 


49 


822 


19 
556 


40 


Tot. Hens 






Tot. Pits. 






17 




329 




421 


651 





Gd. Tot. 1.448 866 1,173 

^Electric light turned on this date. 



1,520 



1,243 



1,207 



EGG RECORD 

January, 1915 

Day 

Hens 

Pullets 1 

Hens 

Pullets 2 

Hens 

Pullets 3 

Hens 

Pullets 4 

Hens 

Pullets 5 

Hens 

Pullets 6 

Hens 

Pullets 7 

Hens 

Pullets 8 

Hens 

Pullets 9 

Hens 

Pullets 10 

Hens 

Pullets 11 

Hens 

Pullets 12 



19 




20 


39 


21 




20 


41 


25 




21 


46 


20 




19 


39 


18 




21 


39 


25 




21 


46 


27 




25 


52 


17 




18 


35 


21 




30 


51 


35 




22 


57 


21 




27 


48 


19 




25 


44 



86 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



Day 

Hens 

Pullets 13 

Hens 

Pullets 14 

Hens 

Pullets 15 

Hens 

Pullets 16 

Hens 

Pullets 17 

Hens 

Pullets 18 

Hens 

Pullets 19 

Hens 

Pullets 20 

Hens 

Pullets 2i 

Hens 

Pullets 22 

Hens 

Pullets 23 

Hens • 

Pullets 24 

Hens 

Pullets 25 

Hens 

Pullets 26 

Hens 

Pullets 27 

Hens 

Pullets 28 

Hens 

Pullets 29 

Hens 

Pullets 30 

Hens 

Pullets •• * l 

Total Hens 

Total Pullets 

Grand Total 





Total 


35 




25 


60 


26 




24 


50 


34 




30 


64 


30 




22 


52 


35 




27 


62 


39 




19 


58 


33 




24 


57 


32 




22 


54 


29 




21 


50 


25 




20 


45 


22 




21 


43 


28 




22 


50 


22 




17 


39 


27 




24 


51 


16 




22 


38 


26 




19 


45 


25 




22 


47 


12 




21 


33 


25 




23 


48 


789 




694 





1,483 






A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



87 



RECAPITULATION FOR 1914 



Weight of 
Month Feed Purchased 

January 1,108 

February 1,664 

March 2,567 

April 1,400 

May 828 

June 800 

July 1,328 

August 1,164 

September 1,589 

October 1,313 

November 1,364 

December 1,560 



Cost of 


Number of 


Value of 


Feed 


Eggs 


Eggs 


$ 20.92 


111 


$ 31.46 


34-12 


1,943 


70.27 


48.81 


2,278 


83.06 


27.26 


2,369 


57.96 


14.95 


1,858 


45.10 


16.51 


1,650 


41.35 


25.51 


1,448 


36.18 


23.97 


866 


23-09 


32.40 


1,173 


38.57 


30.10 


1,520 


45.25 


27.76 


1.243 


39.24 


30.93 


1,207 


48.53 



16,685 $333.24 18,332 $560.06 

January (1915) 1,781 $35.69 1,483 $61.80 

Six hundred ninety-five eggs were sold for hatching for $37.80. 
MEAT SOLD IN 1914 



Month 
April 

n 

May 

June 


20 

22 
27 

6 

20 
27 

3 

20 

25 
24 

29 
12 
19 
26 

3 

10 
17 

1 


1 
10 
12 
12 
10 
4 
2 
1 
1 
1 
3 
8 
4 
2 
3 
4 
4 
4 
3 
3 
1 


Items 
Pullets 


Weight P] 

3 lbs. $ 


-ice 

.18 
.18 
.18 
.18 
18 
12 
15 
15 
18 
15 
22 
19 
19 
19 
19 
18 
18 
18 
18 
17 
alive 


Value 

$ .54 
5.94 
8.46 
8-64 
7.02 
1.98 


Hens 

it 

Roosters 


33 

47 

48 " 

39 

I654 - " 


Hens 


8 


1.20 


Tulv 




4 


.60 




Cockerel 


\y 2 " 


.27 


« 


Hen 


4 


.60 


August 


Cockerels 


4J4 " 

12 

6 


.99 
2.28 
1-14 


« 


a 


3 " 


.57 


September 


" 


6 


1.14 


it 


8 


1.44 




a 


iy 2 " 


1.35 


October 


« 


8 


1.44 




« 


iy 2 " 


1.35 


n 


« 


8 


1.36 


November 


Rooster 


4 " Sold 

27854 


1.25 


Total 


$49.56 



88 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

Longer Day Effects on Health and Vigor 

The effects of a longer business day, on the health and 
vigor of the flock, are almost immediately noticeable. Within 
two or three days, the fowls seem to begin to fill out, their 
feathers begin to take on a gloss, and their combs begin to 
redden. 

After a lapse of one week's time, under the new conditions, 
one would scarcely recognize them as being the same flock. 




Enjoying the Lengthened Day 

Combs gradually increase in size, and get a deeper red 
color. In a few days, the appearance of the flock shows the 
identical changes which occur, under natural conditions, when 
spring arrives, and the birds are able to get outdoors on the 
ground and on the grass. 

Main, when first nibbling on this idea of a longer busi- 
ness day for the hens, seem to get the impression that the 
hens are forced, by the new conditions, into laying eggs, and 
that, therefore, they will soon wear out. 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 89 

If we were to really attempt to force laying, by the use 
of drugs or condiments, such reasoning would likely prove 
correct. By lengthening the day, however, w r e are doing noth- 
ing of the kind — we are merely placing before the hens an 
opportunity to help themselves, at will, to whatever they 
need, for a longer period in each twenty-fcur hours. 

As absolute proof that a longer day is conducive to 
health and vigor, rather than the reverse, we have here the 
records of a flock, under these so-called forcing conditions, 
yielding w^ell in eggs in the winter of 1913-1914; and, with the 
longer day, an increasing yield from January 21st, until the 
natural longer days of spring, and then right on through the 
summer. 

We now come to the time of all others when the lack of 
vigor, as a result of the supposed debilitating influences of the 
conditions under consideration would appear, namely, the 
moulting season. 

A glance at the tables furnished, shows a gradual de- 
crease in egg yield from August 11th until August 21st, when 
the birds were in such a heavy moult that the dropping boards 
were literally covered with feathers. 

Other seasons, we would expect the yield to drop off en- 
tirely when the fowls were in the condition shown at this time. 
The combs would shrink, and lose nearly all their color, the 
fowls would stand around in a listless manner, as if they were 
tired of life, and altogether present a more or less bedraggled 
appearance. 

Now was thought a good time to "Ask the birds, their 
judgment is good," as to whether a longer day, at this time, 
would help them obtain sufficient nourishment to sustain the 
drain on their systems, incident to growing a new crop of 
feathers, and at the same time lay eggs. To ask them whether, 
in their judgment, they were played out as a result of having 
had such long days in the past winter of cruel treatment, in 
being forced off their perches so early in the morning, and 
kept off their perches, by the glare of the light, so late at 
night. 

Judging by results *in winter and spring, we had a some- 
what sure feeling of what the answer would be ; but one never 
can be positive of such things, until they are put to the actual 
test of practical experience. 



90 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



After the light had been turned on, the birds did not 
hesitate, by their actions and appearance, to herald their joy 
at the seeming return of spring. They took on new life, filled 
out in flesh, combs turned red and increased in size, and the 





i I 








J-lgll 














m* > > 


t * m 


J / 










F 



The Pullets in a Busy Night Scene 

new feathers came in as if by magic ; and, to show as proof that 
the long business days of the past winter and early spring 
had no evil effects on the hens, they commenced to increase 
in their e<^ yield, in the middle of a heavy moult, and not 
only laid right through the moult, as will be seen by the table, 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 91 

but the hens also laid as well all through the winter of 1914- 
1915, as did the pullets raised in 1914. 

The author feels that a study of these records will prove, 
more conclusively than anything he could say, that a longer 
business day, not only does not tend to debility and deteriora- 
tion, but also that, for a poultryman who is not afraid to feed 
his flock a sufficiency of balanced rations, a longer day is the 
one thing lacking and needed to preserve vigor, to prevent 
debility under trying conditions whether due to moulting or 
extremes of cold temperatures, and to enable his flock to pro- 
duce eggs abundantly at all seasons. 

The theory has been advanced, and used, that the moult 
can be forced, or brought on, by reducing the feed to a mini- 
mum for a short period; and afterward the period of moulting 
be shortened by increasing the quantity of feed and adding an 
extra supply of oily feeds such as sunflower seeds or linseed 
meal to help the fowls in growing their new coat of feathers. 

The same reasons are responsible for the moult brought 
on, out of season, and against the poultryman's wishes ; when 
early hatched pullets and hens moult at the beginning of 
winter. 

The sudden call for increased feed, on the arrival of cold 
weather, catches the birds unprepared and unable to procure 
what they need — hence the moult. 

With a longer business day, and plenty to eat, even the 
old hens do not seem to suffer from, or mind, the moult even 
in the dead of winter. We had about four such hens which 
had not moulted in the fall of 1914. These hens went about 
their business in zero weather losing feathers and making 
new feathers as if nothing unusual was transpiring. 

Late hatched pullets will be in a position to mature, and 
develop winter layers, with the aid of the benefits derived 
from a longer business day. 




End View of Pullet House 



CHAPTER VII 

Practical Application of Proven Theories 

Production Possibilities 

What are the possibilities in egg production? This is 2 
very interesting question, and one which is hard to answer. 

The records given herein for 1914 show an average pro- 
duction of 138.33 eggs from each member of the flock, based 
on an actual number of single hen days. These records show 
this as a possibility without question — that whole flocks can 
average 138.33 eggs a year. This average also counts in all 
the pullets as being mature at five months from hatching. 

The conditions for producing in this flock are far from 
being the best or ideal. First, the limited quarters on a city 
lot preclude the possibility of raising enough young chicks, 
each year, to enable the owner to cull out the pullets as closely 
as would be advisable. 

Few flocks of chickens develop evenly, under identical 
conditions, for all the individuals in the flock. Some seem to 
thrive out of all proportion to the others ; others thrive fairly 
well, and still others only half as w^ell as the condition of the 
best members of the flock would lead one to expect. Some 
few in the flock may seem to be continually far behind, in the 
race for development. 

After the pullets have developed, and get near to laying 
age, and get their complete plumage, these differences are not 
so noticeable, except for the few really inferior birds. 

First. If enough chickens could be raised to cull so close- 
ly as to leave in the flock only the birds showing exceptional 
vigor, at say three months from hatching, one could reason- 
ably expect greater health and vigor in the flock, and, as a 
consequence, far greater returns in eggs. 

Second. The condition of soil in the yards, which soil 
is a heavy clay loam, makes this soil pack very easily, inter- 
fering to a great extent with the opportunities for the birds 
to wallow, and exercise outdoors in the open season ; also ? in 

93 



94 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

order to keep these yards in a sanitary condition, they must 
be frequently limed. 

Third. The owner of the flock having to leave home 
before seven a. m., and not being able to arrive home again 
before seven thirty p. m., and often not before ten to eleven 
thirty p. m. week days (including Saturdays) his opportuni- 
ties for putting into practice the principle of "Asking the birds, 
their judgment is good," were, of course, greatly limited. 

At night the automatic feeders had to be filled for the 
next day, the dry mash, grit, oyster shell, and charcoal hoppers 
had to be seen to, and replenished when necessary, and the 
water fountains filled and put in place. 

In the morning the green feed of sprouted oats, cabbage, 
or whatever was available was taken down, and the houses 
opened up before leaving home for the day's business. 

In this way the work for the good wife was cut down to 
feeding the moistened mash, once a day, and gathering the 
eggs. 

Business is business, and the keeping of poultry in the 
rear of the lot was only a diversion in an extended experiment, 
over a number of years, in the possibilities of a problem in 
economics. Business came first, and could never be neglected 
for a hobby. 

We have read of individual hens producing two hundred 
eggs and over; and these records, many of them, come from 
reliable and authentic sources. We should always set our 
ideals high, in order to strive to attain them; and, if we suc- 
ceed in actually reaching our ideals, we should not be satisfied, 
but should advance our ideals to a higher point — thus always 
having something ahead of us worth striving to achieve. 

A Inch depends on the breed, and the different treatment 
needed to successfully handle each breed. With the heavier 
breeds, susceptibility to broodiness must be reckoned with as 
a hindrance and a handicap. With the Mediterranean breeds 
this handicap of broodiness is greatly cut down. 

For laving purposes, the concensus of opinion in the 
United States seems to lean toward White Leghorns. These 
birds, under proper care and feeding, are certainly efficient 
"egg machines/' 

Judging by past experience, and taking account of the 
handicaps under which he has operated, the author lias no 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 95 

hesitancy in placing the productive possibility of White Leg- 
horns, when handled as a business proposition, as an average 
of two hundred eggs a year from each hen, in large flocks, 
under proper care, with liberal feeding of balanced rations, 
and with business days equalized in length, by artificial means, 
sufficiently to enable the hens to manufacture their product. 

The figures given herein, on the comparative production 
for the years 1913 and 1914, were chosen, for this purpose, 
because the flocks matched better for these two years as to 
the number of birds and the corresponding ages of the birds 
making up the flocks. The two years being consecutive are 
also better for comparison. 

As noted before, on Page 55, the birds in 1913 contained 
pullets, one and a half year old, and two and a half year old 
hens at the beginning of 1913; and pullets, one and a half 
year old, two and a half year old, and a few three and a half 
year old hens at the beginning of 1914. Thus there were a few 
hens in the flock over four and a half years old at the begin- 
ning of 1915. 

The author has records of much better production in 
1911, which follow, and these are given to show that for great 
production, under the best conditions with a natural day, the 
age of the fowls has a good deal to do with the number of 
eggs produced. 

The tables for 1911 show an average production, for the 
whole flock, of one hundred fifty eggs. This flock contained 
pullets of 1910, and fifty-nine pullets hatched May 18th, 1911, 
and in this average, of one hundred fifty eggs, these 1911 pul- 
lets are figured in as being matured birds at four months and 
eighteen days old on October 1st, 1911. 

The tables for 1911 show an average production for the 
adult fowls hatched May 30th, 1910, of one hundred seventy- 
eight eggs. All these fowls were nineteen months old at the 
end of the year of this record. 

The reader will thus be in a position to note that even 
with the handicap of age of the adult fowls, and the lower 
average for the year 1914 as compared with that of the year 
1911, because of this handicap, the fall and winter production 
of 1914-1915, with the aid of an artificial day, compares very 



96 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

favorably with the fall and winter of 1911-1912, and conclu- 
sively proves the value and aid of a longer business day. 
The following table will show this quite clearly: 

Adult Fowls Adult Fowls 

Fall and winter of 1911-12. Fall and winter of 1914-15. 

No hens in this flock over 20 Some hens in this record over 

months old at the end of this Ay 2 years old at the end of this 

period. period. 

Xo. of Hen Xo. of Per Xo. of Hen X T o. of Per 

Days Eggs Cent Days Eggs Cent 

Sept 1,434 545 38 % Sept 2,969 1,156 38.94% 

Oct 1,457 367 25.19% Oct 3,004 1,191 39.65% 

Nov 1,410 201 14.25% Nov 2,822 822 29-12% 

Dec 1,445 273 18.89% Dec 2,826 556 19.67% 

Jan 1,426 93 6.52% Jan 2,790 789 28.24% 



Totals ..7,172 1,479 20-62% Totals .14,411 4,514 31.32% 

When it is remembered that the reasons, previously given, 
to show the advantages of a longer business day, demonstrate 
that these reasons merely add one (and that a heretofore neg- 
lected and essential) factor to the summer conditions, neces- 
sary to good egg production, the above comparison will serve 
to emphasize the great importance of this factor in profitable 
poultry keeping. 

Not over thirty-seven per cent of the adult fowls in the 
fall and winter of 1914-1915 were of the same age as the adult 
fowls in the same period of 1911-1912 — the other sixty-three 
per cent had a handicap of one, two, and some of them three 
years, to overcome. 

It is reasonable to suppose that, if fowls of such ages 
were able to outstrip their youthful competitors during the 
moulting season and in the winter months, because of the 
advantages of a longer business day, the young stock would 
have made a much better showing than they did, for this same 
period, if the length of their working day had been equalized. 

Taking these comparisons under consideration, the two 
hundred egg goal, previously mentioned as being possible, 
does not seem at all unattainable for whole flocks of young 
and vigorous birds under "A Revolution in Egg Production." 

From an average of one hundred seventy-eight eggs per 
annum to an average of two hundred eggs per annum does 



! 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



97 



not seem such a great increase, in the light of the results shown 
in the preceding chapters. 

AVERAGES AND PERCENTAGES. 

Single Total 
No. of No. of Hen Monthly No. of Per Remarks 
1911 Hens Days Days Hen Days Eggs Cent 

January ..51 X 31 = 1581 1581 664 42% 

February ..51 X 28 = 1428 1428 835 58.48% 

March ....51 X 29 = 1479 1 Hen 

50 X 2 = 100 1579 1105 70% Out 3/2 

April 50 X 30 = 1500 1500 1105 73.67% 

May 50 X 16 = 800 1 Hen 

49 X IS = 735 1535 1021 66.51% Out 5/6 

June 49 X 30 = 1470 1470 837 56.94% 

July 49 X 31 = 1519 1519 915 60.23% 

August. ...49 X 22 = 1078 1 Hen 

48 X 9 = 432 1510 843 55.83% Out 8/22 

September .48 X 24 = 1152 1 Hen 

47 X 6 = 282 1434 545 38 % Out 9/24 
October 

Hens ...47 X 31 = 1457 1457 367 25.19% 

Pullets ..59 X 31 = 1829 1829 28 1.53% 
November 

Hens ...47 X 30 = 1410 1410 201 14.25% 

Pullets ..59 X 30 = 1770 1770 271 15.32% 
December 1 Hen 

Hens ...47 X 19 = 893 Out 12/19 

46 X 12 = 552 1445 273 18.89% 

Pullets ..59 X 31 = 1829 1829 588 32.15% 

Totals 23296 9598 41.15% 

Totals for Adult Fowls only 17868 8711 48.75% 

NOTE — 41.15% of an Egg a day for 365 days equals an average 
of 150 Eggs from all Birds in the flock. 

48.75% of an Egg a day for 365 days equals an average of 178 
Eggs from all Adult Fowls. 

The Year Book of Agriculture for 1910 recognizes the 
importance and immensity of the value of our egg production 
in the aggregate. In a chapter on "The effect of the present 
method of handling eggs on the industry and the product/' 
the following excerpts will give the reader an idea of the 



98 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

economic importance of "A Revolution in Egg Production," 
if such a revolution is generally carried on : 

"During the calendar year 1909, 4,256,320 cases of eggs 
were received in the City of New York. Each case contained 
30 dozen, hence there were 1,532,275,200 individual eggs, or 
enough to permit of a per capita consumption per annum of 
32U * * * * * According to the report of the Secre- 
tary of Agriculture for 1907, "More than $600,000,000 must 
be regarded as the value of the poultry and eggs produced on 
the farms in 1907. The amount may easily be larger. This 
industry has advanced at such a rapid rate that no arithmetic 
can keep up with it." Again in 1908, he says, "The eggs and 
poultry produced on the farms are worth as much as the 
***** hay crop or the wheat crop," the latter being 
estimated at $620,000,000 for 1908. 

"In eggs and poultry, then, we have an agricultural pro- 
duct of enormous money value, considered either individually 
or by comparison with other agricultural productions. * * 
* * * Tj ie ou tput of eggs is steadily growing, but the de- 
mand is growing even faster than the supply, due to the 
increased price of meat, as well as a preference for eggs as 
food; hence, the price of eggs has gone up. In 1899 the farm 
price was 11.15 cents per dozen, as an average for the United 
Mates ; in 1909 the average was 19.7 cents. ***** 
These are the prices to the producer, not the customer. The 
latter pays from fifty to one hundred per cent more than the 
producer receives. Some of the reasons for the increase to 
the consumer will be discussed in this article." 

Averages and Percentages 

There is an old saying that "figures don't lie;" but many 
so-called average and percentage records are wide of the mark, 
because they are based on erroneous methods of arriving at 
results. This is especially true as to the averages and per- 
centages in egg production. 

When a hen drops out of the race, she does not do so con- 
veniently at the first of the month, but may ask the poultry- 
man to dispense with her services, or she may quit by request, 
at any time during the month. 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 99 

To arrive at the average number of hens in any one 
month, we must understand that we cannot either deduct a 
hen dropping out, say, on the 5th of the month, from our 
number of hens ; nor can we leave such a hen to be accounted 
for in the figuring as having equal value, in the results, with 
those in the flock for the full month. 

The only way we can get an exact percentage is to figure 
on the number of single hen days, and divide this number 
into the egg record, for the period for which we want the 
percentage. 

This method is shown on Page 97. 

Suppose we have a flock of one hundred sixty hens for 
the first ten days in a month, then sell off sixty hens, leaving 
one hundred hens for three days, and then sell off forty hens, 
we would have left sixty hens in the flock for the rest of the 
month. 

The erroneous way sometimes used to figure this per- 
centage, would be to add the numbers up for each period, and 
then divide by three (the number of periods) to get the aver- 
age number of hens in the flock; thus 160+100+60=320, and 
320^-3=107. 

This figure would be multiplied by the number of days 
in the month, and then the result would be divided into the 
number of eggs to show the average percentage of eggs laid, 
by each hen, of a possible egg per day. Suppose we try this 
on a month of thirty-one days with an egg record of 1,192 
eggs. We get a percentage of 35.94 per cent. 

If we figure this correctly, we should multiply 160X10= 
1,600; 100X3=300; 60X18=1,080; and 1,600+300+1,080=2,980 
single hen days ; which, divided into the number of eggs for 
percentage, in this case 1,192, would make an exact percentage 
of forty per cent. This shows a difference of over four per 
cent due to wrong method of figuring. The errors of this 
method may show errors as either more or less than the cor- 
rect results. 

Using this method for our 1914 production, we had re- 
sults as follows : 



100 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

AVERAGES AND PERCENTAGES FOR ADULT FOWLS IN 1914 

Single Total 
No. of No. of Hen Monthly No. of Per Remarks 

1914 Hens Days Days Hen Days Eggs Cent 

January .... 160 X 31 = 4960 4960 111 15.67% 

February ...160 X 13 = 2080 1 pullet out 2/13 

. 159 X IS = 2385 4465 1943 43.52% 

March 159 X 6 = 954 1 pullet out 3/ 6 

158 X 4 = 632 1 hen out 3/10 

157 X 8 = 1256 1 hen out 3/18 

156 X 2 = 312 1 hen out 3/20 

155 X 11 = 1705 4859 2278 46.88% 

April 155 X 15 = 2325 1 hen out 4/15 

154 X 5 = 770 1 pullet out 4/20 

143 X 2 = 286 1 hen out 4/20 

131 X 5 = 655 12 hens out 4/22 

119 X 3 = 357 4393 2369 53.937*12 hens out 4/27 

May 119 X 6= 714 10 hens out 5/6 

109 X 25 = 2725 3439 1858 54.03% 

June 109 X 27 = 2943 2 hens out 6/27 

107 X 3 = 321 3264 1650 50.557? 

July 107 X 3 = 321 1 hen out II 3 

104 X 17 = 1768 1 hen out 7/17 

103 X 11 = H33 3222 1448 44.947* 

August ....103 X 31 = 3193 3193 866 27.127* 

-Sub Totals 31795 13189 

September ..103 X 3 = 309 3 hens out 9/ 3 

100 X 7 = 700 2 hens out 9/10 

98 X 20 = 1960 2969 1156 38.947* 

October . ... 98 X 18 = 1764 2 hens out 10/18 

96 X 5 = 480 1 hen out 10/23 

95 X 8 = 760 3004 1191 39.65 % 

November .. 95 X 16 = 1520 1 hen out 11/16 

94 X 7 = 658 2 hens out 11/23 

92 X 7 = 644 2822 822 29.137* 

December .. 92 X 18 = 1656 2 hens out 12/18 

90 X 13 = 1170 2826 556 19.67$ 



Totals 43416 16914 38.957^ 

NOTE — 38.957 of an Egg a clay for 365 clays equals an average of 
142.16 Eggs from each Adult Fowl in the flock, for the whole year 1914. 

*These sub-totals are carried over to the next table. 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 101 

SUPPLEMENTARY TABLE TO INCLUDE AVERAGES AND PER- 
CENTAGES FOR PULLETS WITH THE ADULT FOWLS. 

Single Total 
No. of No. of Hen Monthly No. of Per Remarks 

1914 Birds Days Days Hen Days Eggs Cent 

3 hens out 9/ 3 
2 hens out 9/10 



September 


.103 X 

100 X 

98 X 

f 


3 = 309 

7 = 700 

20 = 1960 

34 


October . . 


• 4152 X 


18 = 2736 




150 X 
149 X 


5 = 750 
8 = 1192 


November 


..149 X 
148 X 
146 X 


16 = 2384 
7 = 1036 
7 = 1022 


December 


..146 X 
145 X 
144 X 
142 X 
141 X 


2 rr 292 
8 = 1160 

8 = 1152 

9 = 1278 

4 = 564 



3003 1173 39.06% 

4678 1520 32.49% 

4442 1243 27.98% 

4446 1207 27.18% 



2 hens out 10/18 
1 hen out 10/23 

1 hen out 11/16 

2 hens out 11/23 

1 pullet out 12/ 2 

1 pullet out 12/10 

2 hens out 12/18 
1 pullet out 12/27 



Totals 16569 5143 

*Sub-totals to August 31, 1914 31795 13189 



Grand Totals 48364 18332 37.90% 

NOTE — 37.90% of an Egg a day for 365 days equals an average of 
138.33 Eggs from each hen or pullet in the flock, for the whole year 1914. 

*These sub-totals are brought over from the previous table, to add in 
with this table, to show the averages and percentages for the whole flock. 

t34 days added to cover 17 Eggs for Pullets beginning to lay. 

$54 pullets raised. 

Press Comments on the Experiment. 

When the author found that his experiment with a longer 
business day, for the hens, correlative and supplementary to 
his liberal and regular feeding of balanced rations, was a suc- 
cess, he decided that an economic fact, of such importance, 
should be given to the public, in tangible form, as soon as 
sufficient data had been accumulated to present a preponder- 
ance of results to make its success apparent, without oppor- 
tunities for skepticism. 



102 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

Having succeeded, where others had failed, in discover- 
ing the real reason for low egg production in fall and winter, 
by well cared for flocks, the author felt a pardonable pride in 
wishing the public to know the facts, and to be benefitted by 
his discovery. 

Of course, an experiment of this kind could not escape 
a certain amount of local publicity, because such a new event 
as an "egg factory" running full blast after dark, could not 
very well be hidden from the view of passers-by on the street 
— either afoot, or in automobiles or other conveyances. 

Through some channel, of which the author has no knowl- 
edge, the "Chicago Tribune" editorial staff was informed of 
the fact that the author was using electric light in his poultry 
houses ; and they called him up on the phone, at his place of 
business, on January 4th, 1915, with a request for an inter- 
view on the subject. 

Realizing that having started out to get information they 
would succeed in getting what they wanted in some manner, 
the interview was granted, and they sent a photographer out 
to take a few pictures. 

On January 5th, 1915, the following pictures and write- 
up appeared in the "Chicago Tribune." 

The pictures were taken by flash light, after dark, and 
show the "egg factory" in actual operation. 

FOOLS CHICKENS; GETS MORE EGGS 



G. G. Newell Installs Electric Light in Coops and Hens Work 

Overtime. 

George G. Newell is an auditor. Figures and statistics and chickens 
are his hobbies. Efficiency is his watchword. 

Back of his residence in Congress Park there is an inclosure forty feet 
square in which he keeps what he calls his "150 egg machines." The 
"machines" belong to the feathered tribe known as White Leghorns. He 
expects and obtains eggs from these "machines" with the same regularity 
and accuracy as he does figures from an adding machine. 

Gets 18,000 Eggs. 

He says he has obtained 18,000 eggs from his "machines" in the last 
year, or an average of an egg every third day for each fowl, and expects 
to bring this average up to an egg every other day for each hen during 
1915. All the hens are laying now and he sells the eggs for 50 cents a 






A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



103 



dozen. Mr. Newell attributes his success to the fact that his chickens live 
in two electric lighted coops, go to roost by electricity, and get up at the 
beck of 100 candle power. 

"I figured the whole problem out in black and white/'' said Mr. Newell. 
"I found that my chickens were not laying much in winter. They'd go 
to roost earlier in the winter months and get up later. I figured they 
didn't have sufficient daylight in which to eat the necessary amount of 




Plays Electric Light Joke on Chicks and They Lay for It. 

food and to get the required amount of exercise for good laying. I 
estimated they got about sixteen hours of daylight in midsummer and only 
about seven hours in midwinter. I decided to strike an average of their 
waking hours. 

Up at 6 a. m. 

"At a cost of about thirty dollars I installed a one hundred candle- 
power tungsten lamp and a two candlepower incandescent lamp in one 
chicken house and two sixty candlepower tungstens and a two candlepower 
lamp in the other. These I connected with switches in the house. 

"As soon as the alarm clock goes off at six or a little after in the 
morning I turn on the switch and the chickens get up, thinking it is 



104 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

daylight. The lights are turned off at eight or eighty thirty, when it is full 
daylight and the neighbors' fowls are just arising. 

"When it begins to get dusk, along about four, my daughter Dorothy, 
or my wife turns on the lights and they are kept going until nine at night, 
when I turn all out except the two candlepower lamps. These give just 
a sufficient amount of light to give the appearance of dusk, and the chick- 
ens begin going to roost. I leave the small lamps lit all night, so that 
if any of the chickens want to get up at night to eat they can do so. 
Average Jumps from Twenty-six to Eighty-three. 

'Eleven days after the lights were installed the daily average jumped 
from twenty-six eggs to eighty-three. During the moulting season under 
the old custom, when most of the food was going to feathers instead of 
eggs, I got only eleven eggs a day. Now I get fifty-two a day during 
the moulting season. It is merely an experiment in efficiency, and I hope 
to improve on it." 

"Chickens think," said Mr. Newell. "If they know they are going to 
get plenty of food the next day they'll lay. By my method I keep them 
thinking they are getting the same amount of daylight all the year around, 
and I'm keeping them thinking all the time." 

This article was either copied, or a new article made up 
from it, in the press in many papers throughout the United 
States. A clipping sent the author from Dunkirk, New York, 
had reproduced the pictures in the "Tribune" and as an insert 
picture had the following: 

THAT /O 

6000 






The following was given me by a friend as having been 
taken from the "San Francisco Call:" 

"CRUELTY TO HENS IN DARKEST CHICAGO." 



"They Have to Get Up at Six O'clock in the Cold Winter Mornings. 

There is an ingenious gentleman in darkest Chicago who takes 
about the meanest advantage of his hens that has come to our atten- 
tion. Under the solar conditions obtaining in Chicago, midwinter 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 105 

dawn is not due until about eight o'clock in the mornng, and so a 
natural hen is not supposed to quit her downy roost until that hour. 
But this Chicago man has equipped his hen house with electric lights. 
These he switches on at six o'clock in the morning. 

The poor hens are aroused by the glare of light and their consorts 
loudly crow to hail the dawn of artificial day. Down from their roosts 
troop the fowls and straightway they make for their nests. With 
some twelve hours of light before them, the hens busy themselves in 
laying, and every hen does her duty once every three days, which is 
a better egg laying average than obtains when there is no electric 
light inducement to laying. 

As natural darkness comes over Chicago, the gentleman turns on 
the electric light, and until nine o'clock the poor hens are kept awake, 
under the delusion that it is still daylight. 

Such cruelty to the hens should be punished. The man ought to 
be forced to eat a dozen eggs every day." 

The "Electrical World" of February 6th, 1915, had the 
following : 

"EGG PRODUCTION INCREASED BY ELECTRIC LIGHT" 

"According to the testimony of Mrs. George G. Newell, of *Brook- 
field, 111., a suburb of Chicago, the effect of using artificial light in 
her chicken house to simulate the long days of summer has been 
the trippling of the egg output of her hens. In their tungsten-lighted 
compartments these estimable chickens now average one hundred 
fifty eggs per hen per year. A total of 18,000 eggs was produced in 
the New r ell coops last year. 

The increase in the productiveness of the hens has resulted, it 
is explained, from the duplication of summer lighting conditions dur- 
ing the dark days of winter. It was Mrs. Newell's theory that the 
hens did not lay many eggs during the winter months because they 
spent more time on their roosts and had less opportunity for scratch- 
ing about for food. At a nominal cost the electric service of the 
Public Service Company of Northern Illinois was extended to the 
hen house. Each of the two sections is provided with a two candle- 
power lamp and a one hundred candlepower cluster. 

At 6 a. m. on dark winter mornings when the family arises the 
lamps are switched on in the coops. At once the feathered occupants 
are roused to the day's activity of scratching for food. After the 
appearance of daylight outside, the lamps are turned off. With the 
return of dusk in the late afternoon they go on again, and they con- 
tinue to burn until eight o'clock, when all are turned off except the 
two candlepower units. These lamps give a low illumination, simu- 
lating dusk, and the hens at once prepare to go on their roosts. 



*Brookfield, 111., has three depots and three postofnees, called 
Hollywood, Brookfield and Congress Park. 



106 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

Fifteen minutes later, when all are in place, the small 'dusk' lamps 
are extinguished and darkness reigns on the chicken house until the 
next morning. 

Two weeks after the present lighting system was installed the 
daily egg output had risen from twenty-six to eighty-three, accord- 
ing to the owner. Fifty eggs a day are now obtained during the 
moulting season, in comparison with eleven eggs a day secured under 
the former artificial lighting conditions." 

This is a very fair article, except for the error in the 
last line, where it gives the impression that other artificial 
lights were previously used. 

Judging by the letters received, the "Chicago Tribune" 
article aroused a general interest. This article, and all the 
others which the author has seen, with the exception of the 
one here reproduced from the "Electrical World," show that 
the subject was treated in either a humorous or sarcastic 
vein; and left the inference to the readers that it was cruel, 
tricky, or humorous to subject the hens to a longer business 
day. 

The economical importance, of the subject, seems to have 
been left to the reader's own ability to draw his own deduc- 
tions, and to read between the lines. 

Corroborations of Long Business Day Benefits. 

The first, of whom the author has knowledge, to follow 
in experimenting with a longer business day was Mr. J. C. 
Kline, of Congress Park. He seemed to take some interest in 
accounts of the experiment and its results, but did not .-eem 
to get enthusiastic, until he saw the plant in operation at the 
end of the summer of 1914. He equipped his poultry house 
with electric lights, and has received full benefits since in the 
supply of eggs in the fall and winter. 

The next to follow was Mr. J. W. Allen, of Riverside, 
Illinois, to whom electricity was not available at the time. 
The author procured three Air-O-Lanterns, which produced 
a 300-cp light, with a consumption of one quart of gasoline, 
for from twelve to fifteen hours. Mr. Allen got one of these 
lanterns, and after putting the same into use began to receive 
returns in eggs within three or four days. 

Mr. Maurice L. Newell, a brother of the author, got an- 
other of these Air-O-Lanterns to try on his poultry farm in 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 107 

Michigan. He had been skeptical right along about the effi- 
ciency of light — attributing the author's good egg yield to 
other causes. His egg yield in November, 1914, however, 
had dwindled to twenty-two eggs in twenty-one days, and on 
November 26th the author took him an Air-O-Lantern, which 
was installed in the poultry house. The following extract 
from the letter of November 21st from Maurice L. Newell, 
will give some idea of the condition of the flock : 

"Some of those early moulters, you know they started to 
moult in July, well they came just up to the laying point — 
red large combs, etc., and in good flesh — one or two started 
to lay, then they quit and are now in their second moult 
around neck and losing tail feathers. Also some of the year- 
ling hens have done the same, and while the pullets are look- 
ing well, and some have large lay-over combs, have so far 
not received an egg from them." 

A few days later the author got word from his brother, 
that he was shipping eggs to Chicago in case lots. 

Mr. William Trefzger next installed electric lights in his 
poultry house. On February 1st the author wrote him as 
follows : 

"Congress Park, 111., February 1st, 1915. 
Mr. Wm. Trefzger, 8541 South Sangamon Street, Chicago. 

Dear Sir: Knowing that you have kept poultry for a number of 
years, and that you have recently installed electric lights in your 
poultry house, I shall appreciate the favor if you will write, giving me 
the results obtained from your experiment. 

^ I am enclosing a stamped and addressed envelope for your reply, 
which will greatly oblige, 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. G. NEWELL. 

And received the following reply : 

8541 South Sangamon Street, Chicago, 111., February 3rd. 1915. 
Mr. Geo. G. Newell, Congress Park, 111. 

Dear Sir: I have received your letter dated February 1st, 1915. 
You will remember my conversation with you about the middle of 
last December, in which I asked you what caused my pullets to 
suddenly stop laying, and your reply that it was due to the short days. 

At that time I could not see it your way. Within a few days 
I spoke to you twice again on the same subject. On the latter occa- 
sion you volunteered the theory: 



108 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

First, that, as I had told you, my pullets were laying well, and 
would probably have continued to do so, falling off gradualy as the 
winter progressed. 

Second, that the sudden change to cold weather which fell below 
zero at our place on December 14th, made a sudden call on the 
systems of the pullets for extra nourishment to maintain heat and 
vitality — thus forcing a curtailment in egg production. 

Third, that the weather remaining cold for several days, the 
pullets had not been able, on account of the short days, to get back 
into laying form; and probably would not do so until Spring unless 
their business day was lengthened. 

Soon after, my house was wired for electricity, and I ran a 
wire out to the poultry house, and started the light January 1st, 
1915. The pullets, in the meantime, had gone into a heavy moult. 

The first effect noticed was that the moulting stopped imme- 
diately. Next there was a great improvement in the looks of the 
birds. Their combs began to redden and we began to get eggs the 
third day. 

We have in our flock six hens and twenty-six pullets. We did 
not keep any record of eggs, but they increased two or three a day 
until the fifteenth, when my wife suggested that, as we were getting 
so many eggs, we had better keep account of them. I enclose a 
calendar for January on which we kept this account. You will see 
on the fifteenth we got 16 eggs and then 18, 16, 18, 21, 22, 15, 24, 24, 
19, 24, 19, 23, 19, 21, and on the thirty-first, 20 eggs, which is a total of 
319 eggs in sixteen days. 

W T e had tried liberal feeding without results. This record is 
very good, especially so considering the cold weather. The ther- 
mometer read below zero several mornings, and fourteen below zero 
January 28th. 

I have been keeping poultry over twenty years, and never had 
such surprising results from anything. My wife was overjoyed, as 
she loves her poultry, and the sudden change from a condition, when 
we thought the whole flock would have to be sacrificed, to one of 
health and vigor, with the addition of good laying, was very gratify- 
ing to us. We think it is wonderful the way your theory has proved 
out in actual practice. 

Yours very truly, 

(Signed) WILLIAM TREFZGER. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Conclusions 

Trying it on the Ducks 

In the foregoing pages of this little book, the reader has 
been given an insight into the problem of egg production, and 
poultry keeping in general, from the author's viewpoint. 

The whole subject has been put in such a manner, and 
the author has tried to state his premises clearly, so that the 
reader was not asked to take anything for granted. 

The whole book has treated the subject with reference 
to hens only as producers. The production of duck eggs has 
taken great strides in the last few years, especially with the 
Indian Runner ducks, which have been termed "the Leghorns 
of the duck family." 

In the keeping of ducks, however, the author does not 
feel competent to speak from actual experience. By the pro- 
cess of deduction, it is reasonable to predict that the same 
general effects of a longer business day will apply equally 
well in the production of eggs from ducks as from hens ; and, 
on this deduction, this question should be worth serious con- 
sideration by those engaged in this branch of the poultry 
industry. It is well known that the duck family are naturally 
more nocturnal in their habits than hens. 

Heredity and Performance 

The flocks which we use for heavy egg production must 
be produced from birds which are known to be good layers. 
The birds must come from vigorous stock in order to grow 
and thrive quickly into producers. 

Some seem to be prejudiced against breeding from hens 
which have laid well during the w T inter ; but, if heredity counts 
for anything, how are we going to produce good winter layers 
unless we breed from those which have produced eggs freely 
in winter? If hens do not lay during the winter, can we 
reasonably expect winter layers as a result of transmitted 
heredity from such hens? If hens do not produce well in the 

109 



110 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

winter months, they cannot make up the deficiency necessary 
to qualify, as heavy layers, by any summer laying records. 

It is a safe conclusion that heredity alone will not give 
us good producers. Heredity must be supplemented by good, 
well regulated, and liberal feeding of balanced rations, to- 
gether with a plentiful and constant supply of good drinking 
water. Only in this way can we turn to full advantage the 
hereditary qualities, which were transmitted to our birds. 

We must give our flocks good quarters in which to work, 
and must keep these quarters in a wholesome and sanitary 
condition, as a requisite to that health and vigor, without 
which we cannot expect or obtain satisfactory results. 

"Playing electric light jokes on the chicks" will not make 
them "lay for it," unless we give them plenty of opportunity 
to make use of this light. A longer business day will not feed 
the hens. Many will jump to the conclusion that artificial 
light by lengthening the day, will make their hens produce. 
Artificial light will lengthen the day, but will not and cannot 
be of any practical benefit to anyone who tries this innovation, 
unless such a person is also a liberal provider of food for his 
flocks. 

Egg Producing as a Business Proposition 

The author would place the value of artificial light to a 
flock of 2,000 layers at not less than $800 per year in in- 
creased production. This light, however, must be bright 
enough to flood the houses with light — not a mere glimmer. 

Nothing could be further from the author's intention than 
to have the reader of this little work jump to the conclusion, 
from what has been written in the foregoing pages, that 
anyone can engage in the poultry business, and make a living 
or a competence, out of the business of producing eggs. 

Like every other business, this business requires study, 
and attention to business affairs; and to enter this business 
without the necessary ability, or qualifications, cannot help 
but prove disastrous. 

Many enter this business as a result of dreams that won't 
and can't come true. This business has some advantages, 
however, over other businesses — chief among which is the 
fact, true in all civilized countries, that the market has not 
been, and is not likely to be, fully supplied with good fresh 



A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 111 

eggs at all seasons. What a bonanza would such a condition 
create in any manufacturing line, or in a wholesale or retail 
business. 

To illustrate how. quickly a large flock of hens which are 
not producing can eat into a bank account, we have an example 
on Pages 59 and 60, where the feed in October-, 1913, cost 
$26.13, and the production in eggs was only $7.91. A large 
flock on this same basis, would produce a large balance on the 
wrong side of the ledger in a short time. Even millionaires 
would tire of extended experience of this kind. If no profits 
are made, they at least expect to get their money back. 

To the generality of poultry keepers, in a small way, 
this would be the time when they would reason that they must 
cut down expenses and withhold the feed. 

To do so, however, would be suicidal ; because, if that 
was done, the flock would not only remain in the non-produc- 
ing class all winter, but would still cause a necessary expense 
for feed. By liberal feeding at this time, the flock was en- 
abled to turn the scale in the following month, and do well 
all winter thereafter. 

Capital and Equipment for Large Flocks 

By careful watching, and close observation, large flocks 
can be housed and cared for more economically than small 
flocks. The labor can be cut down, by labor saving devices 
for carrying feed, litter, droppings, etc. ; and the houses can 
be so constructed that they may be easily subdivided, at 
pleasure, by placing swinging doors in the divisions, in such 
a manner as not to be a hindrance or impediment to free 
ingress or egress. 

With automatic feeders in use, a grain conveyor could 
be so equipped, and without great expense, as to fill all the 
feeders, in succession, by the use of power machinery. 

Such arrangements, with an automatic supply of water, 
would enable the poultryman to care for large flocks with 
a minimum of expense. 

Only the actual expenses for material necessary for pro- 
duction have been gone into in the preceding chapters. The 
items of general expense, labor, interest on investment, etc, 
have not been gone into or taken up. These various items can 



112 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 

be figured out to suit the needs and circumstances of each 
producer. 

As to the capital necessary to engage in this business, 
that also is a matter of individual judgment and opportunity. 
Some successful poultrymen have been saved from disaster 
by lack of capital, this lack compelling a safe and sure pace 
while gaining their experience. 

Instances could be cited of poultrymen starting out with 
large capital, minus a practical knowledge of what was before 
them, who used up their capital in gaining such knowledge, 
and gave up the ship in disgust at the results, or from inability 
to borrow more capital at the time when they had learned 
how to use it. 

On the other hand, instances could be cited of those who 
have had to do without capital because they had it not, or 
could not procure it, but who have started in, in a small way, 
and attained the necessary working knowledge as they went 
along, and who, as a result, have grown into successful and 
prosperous poultrymen. 

These varying results are accounted for when we con- 
sider that a poultryman must know his business, and if he has 
to learn the business, after engaging in it, a very large per- 
centage of losses with a small flock amount to but a few dol- 
lars ; whereas the same percentage on a large investment is 
a very serious matter. 

Every man must do his own thinking, and if the reader's 
thinking has been stimulated toward producing better eggs 
and many more of them, to his own pleasure and profit, it 
will be all the satisfaction desired by 

THE AUTHOR. 



